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I think it’s completely beautiful. Here is my somewhat romanticized view of the brain and nervous system based off of the models we have talked about thus far:
We all know every human differs with regards to hair, eye color, etc. all the way and down their finger prints. We pride ourselves in being unique. In the same way, I believe every human’s brain and nervous system is unique. Because 99.999…% of our brain is suggested to be interneurons, I think most of the differences are found here. Our genes determine the way our brain is set up (a lot of psychological disorders tend to be hereditary), and no two nervous systems are the same. We build memory through various inputs from our external word. However, the same external inputs are processed differently by the individual before stored as memory. So, although two people may have the same upbringing, they may have different memories based on their perceptions of their upbringing. New input passes through a number of memory boxes before decisions are made, which explain free will and individual decision making. Other types of input take others paths passing though different “boxes” depending on the desired or involuntary output. My perception of the nervous system and reasoning is similar to that of a pinball machine. The input is fired in from the launcher thing (input from the surroundings) and it just bounces around while you get to voluntarily hit it every which way, tossing it around some more. It gets stuck in warp holes and fires out again. You hit it to bounce it up some more (juggle around some thoughts), then after a bunch of movement, you come to a decision and it falls into the gutter – Output. Sometimes your first launch isn’t strong enough to get it into the game area - input that produces no output. Sometimes it just immediately falls into the gutter after being launched- reflex.
On a more interesting note, I was reading this post called Making Love Logical: The Neurological Process of Love. It investigated brain activity of newly in-love couples. The studies showed that regions of the right caudate nucleus and right ventral segmental area were particularly active when the lover was shown a picture of his/her significant other. These areas are rich in dopamine and part of the brain’s motivation and reward system. This made me think of Jack Nicholson’s famous quote in As Good as It Gets, “You make me want to be a better man.” Not surprisingly, the results were different for men than women (We all know men tend to think with other things besides the brain). Women brain activity was associated with reward, emotion, and attention, while men showed more activity in visual processing areas. One explanation was that women have many hormones that produce frequent, varied and intense emotions, while men have androgens (anabolic steroids) which help to develop their masculine characteristics. Another beautiful example of input/output boxes in action. The input may be the same to both parties, but are processed completely differently. Understanding the processing, i.e. the pathways and boxes affected, we can explain the relative roles of men and women in love. Maybe we can even come up with a cocktail of love hormones we could shoot into the man of our dreams. I know in the Pacific, a lot of islanders have traditional love spells including different drinks and perfumes. It’d be fun to research the likelihood of those concoctions working based on their chemical make-up.
A response to the interesting yet irrelevant posts about Evolution:
Because our society is so multifaceted and in continuous need of every type of person to function (be it the McDonald’s worker or the Brain Surgeon), who is to say which humans are more valuable in this Darwinist model? How do you determine a human more fit for survival than others- strength? Beauty? Intelligence? Wealth? What if you threw all these people on a deserted island (not the TV show Survival style, but for reals), who would be the most fit then? The more you try to define this fit human species, the more controversial and disgusting the subject becomes. We are not toying with evolution. We are evolution. Just as the clown fish learns to live with the anemone to survive or the otter learns to use rocks to crack open oyster shells, we learn to battle cancer with chemotherapy.
Lastly, a Request to the class:
I have arrived on time to class and still had to stand in the back despite there being available a number of open seats. These seats were “saved” for friends who arrived up to 10 minutes late for class. If I had arrived late for class, I wouldn’t have minded standing because I understand the consequences of arriving late. This issue was brought up by other students as well. Saving seats provides incentive for others to show up late for class. It is also unfair to the people who arrive on time. We are all adults, and I would ask of you to reconsider saving seats as it is unfair to you classmates. And if you are one of those people who like to have your seat saved for you, I ask of you not to be upset with your friend if s/he decides not to save your seat anymore, or perhaps be an even bigger person and just tell them not to save you a seat anymore. Sorry for sounding bitchy and thanks.