Posts tagged david eagleman

There is a very important distinction to be made between somebody who is psychotic, which means they have something like schizophrenia, and people who are psychopathic, which means they are a psychopath and don’t care about other people (…) no empathy and no guilt.
David Eagleman clearing confusion with regards to commonly misused psychological terms. “Neuroscientist weighs in on CO shooting suspect” [via]   
We open our eyes and we think we’re seeing the whole world out there. But what has become clear—and really just in the last few centuries—is that when you look at the electro-magnetic spectrum we are seeing less than 1/10 Billionth of the information that’s riding on there. So we call that visible light. But everything else passing through our bodies is completely invisible to us.
Neuroscientist and author David Eagleman, in recent interview with Lifehacker. (via thelavinagency)
It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight … I love her dearly, and she has been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have. I cannot rationa[l]ly pinpoint any specific reason for doing this (…) I talked with a Doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt [overcome by] overwhelming violent impulses. After one session I never saw the Doctor again, and since then I have been fighting my mental turmoil alone, and seemingly to no avail.

- David Eagleman referencing Charles Whitman’s suicide note - in the new Atlantic article The Brain on Trial where he discusses neurolaw, brain damage, free will and customizable/rehabilitative strategies in lieu of a ‘one-size fits all’ punishment.  He suggests by making several utilitarian modifications to the criminal justice system, a more “biologically informed jurisprudence” could emerge.

If I seem to be heading in an uncomfortable direction—toward letting criminals off the hook—please read on, because I’m going to show the logic of a new argument, piece by piece. The upshot is that we can build a legal system more deeply informed by science, in which we will continue to take criminals off the streets, but we will customize sentencing, leverage new opportunities for rehabilitation, and structure better incentives for good behavior. Discoveries in neuroscience suggest a new way forward for law and order—one that will lead to a more cost-effective, humane, and flexible system than the one we have today. When modern brain science is laid out clearly, it is difficult to justify how our legal system can continue to function without taking what we’ve learned into account.

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nprfreshair:

Audio for Terry’s interview with neuroscientist David Eagleman about decisions, consciousness, religion, stress, crime and time is now up. Enjoy!

Of course, if you follow Eagleman’s work, this interview gives few surprises since most of these topics are covered in his talks, and in the plethora of interviews he’s done lately promoting Incognito. But it’s worth a listen if nothing else just to appreciate the “lazy susan” of ideas this man gets to play with all day. I’m both totally inspired and a wee bit jealous…I can’t wait to trade up from my sandbox.