"To its detractors, the brain is a kludge, a hacked-up device beset with bugs, biases and self-deceptions that undermine our decision making and well-being at every turn."
— Charbris, Christopher F. (b. 1966)
Work Title
Date
October 14, 2011
Metaphor
"To its detractors, the brain is a kludge, a hacked-up device beset with bugs, biases and self-deceptions that undermine our decision making and well-being at every turn."
Metaphor in Context
The human brain gets a lot of press these days, but not all the publicity has been good. Its reviews are reminiscent of Barack Obama’s during the 2008 presidential campaign, when one side said he was a socialist Muslim foreigner and the other thought he was a savior from on high. To its detractors, the brain is a kludge, a hacked-up device beset with bugs, biases and self-deceptions that undermine our decision making and well-being at every turn. To its admirers, it contains vast potential we can all unlock to improve our lives, thanks to “neural plasticity” that enables the adult nervous system to change in more dramatic ways than previously thought. Lately, a growing army of Chicken Littles retorts that this very plasticity has been hijacked by the Internet and other forms of technological crack that are rewiring our brains into a state of continual distraction and intellectual torpor.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Christopher Charbris, "Is the Brain Good at What it Does?" New York Times Book Review (October 14, 2011). <Link to NYTimes.com>
A version of this review appeared in print on October 16, 2011, on page BR12 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: "Think Again."
A version of this review appeared in print on October 16, 2011, on page BR12 of the Sunday Book Review with the headline: "Think Again."
Date of Entry
10/17/2011
