Battle of the brains
Submitted by James on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 12:22pm
The New York Times today has a fascinating article about brains and how they continue to learn, or not learn, as people get older. The facts suggest that there may be fundamental differences in lifelong learning and intellect between those who continually challenge their own beliefs and experiences and those who stick with a monolithic ideology.
Educators say that, for adults, one way to nudge neurons in the right direction is to challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways, adult learners should “jiggle their synapses a bit” by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own, says Dr. Taylor, who is 66.
Teaching new facts should not be the focus of adult education, she says. Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different. In a history class, that might mean reading multiple viewpoints, and then prying open brain networks by reflecting on how what was learned has changed your view of the world.
“There’s a place for information,” Dr. Taylor says. “We need to know stuff. But we need to move beyond that and challenge our perception of the world. If you always hang around with those you agree with and read things that agree with what you already know, you’re not going to wrestle with your established brain connections.”
This insight aligns with what Steve Harrison wrote in December in a post called The responsibilities of progressives.
We have a unique opportunity here, folks. The Age of Reason is not dead, and critical thinking skills have not been lost, they're waiting patiently for you to use them.
Critical thinking means just what it says, and it's something far too few people engage in. Fortunately, it's easy to do. Just ask yourself one simple question: What if I'm wrong?
The ability to honestly ask this question may lie at the heart of differences between progressives and free-market libertarians. Progressives, I believe, have more potential to think critically, without assuming they have a corner on truth. As the Times article suggests, that kind of thinking is good for the brain. It allows a person to focus on finding solutions that work instead of finding evidence that he or she right.
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In the spirit of "bumping up against ideas and people" that are different, please consider this an open request to invite more friends and family into the conversation here at BlueNC. As we move into this second decade of this century, the more ideas, the better. It's good for our brains.
- James's blog
- 894 reads
A great website for Sunday thinking
is called Arts and Letters Daily. There's always something interesting to read there.
Speaking of thinking
Mark Binker today writes a thoughtful preview of the year ahead, and manages to do so without relying on a single manufactured opinion from the Puppetshow. Well done.
Take a close look at the story. Binker brings in a slew of welcome fresh voices, though a few of the old same old "experts" squeak in as well. Carter Wrenn, Andrew Taylor (some would argue he's a Puppet, Chris Fitzsimon (clearly on the left), and John Rustin (right wing free market nut job).
Not-gay Tom Fetzer, of course, has to be included. No one from the NCDP is quoted.
All that said, this is the kind of approach I wish more political reporters in North Carolina would take, especially those from the McClatchy clan.
PS What the heck is going on with the NCDP?
Thanks...
...for the kind words James. Happy New Year to you and everyone at Blue NC.
mark binker
News & Record
Challenging preconceived notions
is one of the most difficult tasks to undertake, because it requires us to direct critical thinking inward. But it's also a step that can't be skipped, if objectivity is the goal.
So we must ask ourselves "why". Why do we believe in a certain cause or policy approach or ominous portend, or what have you? What are the facts or factors that led us to said belief? Make a list, then try to assign values to each factor, and then examine each for substance. Are you quite sure it is valid and verifiable? If there are gaps in substance, it doesn't necessarily mean you are wrong, but it does increase the likelihood. Recognizing that is half the battle.
There is a good point here
James, Wrenn has a good point when he says that if there is a propensity in the country/state toward negatives with regard to the current administration and the democratic-led congress, the republicans have an advantage in both state-wide races AND U.S. congressional and senate contests. We can argue it here all day long, but it is a good point.
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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen
Okay, so not really being a
Okay, so not really being a "Progressive" or a "progressive" but reading, discussing and reflecting on what is written here on BlueNC is helping to keep me from going senile? Thanks guys! I need all the help I can get.
I'm a moderate Democrat.
What keeps brains young?
It ain't doing the Sunday crossword or daily cryptoquotes. It's pushing yourself to learn something new or think in different ways that helps to promote neuroplasticity and gives the lie to much of what we learned in grade school about neuroanatomy. A good resource is Sharon Begley's Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, from one of the Mind and Life Institute gatherings. A closed mind is a dying mind. A stagnant brain is a dying brain.
What if I'm Wrong??
What a great question to open our second "do over" decade of the new millenium.
NC Peace Action is working with Pace e Bene author Terrance Rynne to bring his book tour "Gandhi & Jesus; The Saving Power of Nonviolence" to NC this spring. Salvation has never been one of my foremost inquiries, but Rynne's book raises an intriguing question: "Is Salvation an individual or a team sport?"
Happy New Year All,
John Heuer
Speaking of brains...
David Broder's op-ed in todays paper about the imperfections of government and the citizenry's propensity to think government should solve their problems leads me to think Broder's brain has atrophied. He makes a lot of obvious points but fails to simply state that the growing problem in government, leading to the frustration of people's expectations, is that we simply don't trust our leaders anymore.
Government makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. Mistakes are usually thought of as accidental or unintended. The "mistakes" we're so often seeing now aren't actually mistakes. They are purposefully committed actions in cross-purpose to the well-being of the citizenry...perpetrated by preening, self-serving elected representatives and or corporate execs who wouldn't tell the truth unless their own lives depended upon it.
The last two times I heard the truth coming out of Congress was when Rep. Lantos blasted the CEO and other execs of Yahoo as being "moral pygmies" and when Rep. Grayson accurately described the GOP's health care plan..."don't get sick, but if you do, die quick" or words to that effect.
"What if I'm wrong" needs to be imbedded in the oath of office for elected reps...and in our daily lives.
Stan Bozarth
I agree with you, Stan...
...I'm convinced that David Broder has been dead for some time. Or at least brain dead. :-)
It would be so refreshing if more Congress-people -- particularly those in the progressive caucus -- would make some simple, declarative, honest statements about health care, global climate, Wall Street, or whatever. What are they afraid of? Much of the country is primed for a populist revolt -- people have been screwed by the banks, the financial industry, and the health insurance companies. Why not come out and say it?
For that matter, I was so hoping Obama would be like FDR, and come out swinging for the reforms we badly need. But no. He's squandering the opportunity to really lead. I hope he has spent his vacation reflecting on that, but I fear he has not.
We have our work cut out for us, if we want to see reform (and rescue the planet, too, from the coming climate nightmare).
Simple, honest statements ARE what's missing...
as well as the appropriate accompanying actions. You said it well.
Re Obama...I've not yet given up, but little things matter. I read...don't have the facts...that over the holidays...or earlier, but aired recently, the White House hosted a "battle of the chefs" using ingredients from the White House garden.
We're in the midst of our loved ones engaged in wars on multiple fronts, millions without jobs, foreclosures continuing to soar, and so on. Yet, the White House chooses to do this? MIght it be entertaining? Yes...but only so long as one can shut away the images of war and it's ravages on our families...only so long as we can ignore the neighbor who is out of work and struggling to pay the bills and keep food on the table...only so long as we can close our hearts to the sick who can't afford medical care.
"Tone deaf" doesn't do justice to describing how many folks will perceive this amazingly graceless event. I'm surprised the GOP hasn't jumped on it...except they're too busy safely sipping their 100 y/o Courvoisier in front of their warm fires.
Stan Bozarth
Wow
Stan -- you know, I hadn't really thought about the "battle of the chefs" quite that way. The saving grace, to me, is that the White House garden is organic, and seems to be Michelle Obama's effort to get people to eat healthy food -- she's using it as a teaching tool for DC schoolchildren, in particular. The chef thing was supposed to highlight healthy food using ingredients from the garden.
Which doesn't speak to your point about the frivolous nature of the event itself amid really difficult times for so many people.... It's a fair point. On the other hand, it'd be nice to use that event to highlight the excesses of the processed food and fast food industries, who prey on poor people, in particular, by purveying fat and chemical-laden cheap fare that induces chronic disease and obesity.
On another note, btw, I think your tagline (the Bastiat quotation) really says it all about our failing political system.
Blog brain mapping
In the next 90 days, Titan Cement is going to show up on the BlueNC Wonderwheel, or I'm going to die trying.