PRAGMATIC ADVICE FROM THE WISE

"Critical thinking, without creative and intuitive insights, without the search for new patterns, is sterile and doomed. To solve complex problems requires the activity of both cerebral hemispheres; the path to the future lies through the corpus callosum."

~ Carl Sagan, (1934-1996), American astronomer, astrochemist & astrophysicist;

Hip, Hip, Hurray!

As Dilip Mukerjea has so eloquently put it in his book, 'Unleashing Genius, with the World Most Powerful Learning Systems':

"Genius is unleashed when both the 'left' and the 'right' attributes of the brain are working in harmony with one another."

This is how Dilip & I envision it:

LOGIC + IMAGINATION

REASONING + INTUITION

DETAILS + BIG PICTURE

ORDER + CHAOS OR CHAORDIC!

CONVERGENT + DIVERGENT OR SYNVERGENT!

ALGORITHMIC + "FUZZY WOOLY FEEL"

THINKING + DAYDREAMING

COOL HEAD + GUT FEEL

HARD-NOSE + SOFT-FOCUS

FORECASTS WITH NUMBERS + SCENARIOS WITH STORIES

SERIOUSNESS + FUN

WORK + PLAY OR PLORK!

SCANNING THE HORIZON + GROKKING THE FUTURE

ANALYSIS OVER TIME + SYNTHESIS OVER SPACE

TRAVERSING THE MAINSTREAM + STRADDLING THE FRINGES

LINEAR EXTRAPOLATION + RANDOM JUXTAPOSTION

ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION + RAPID PROTOTYPING

ONE-TRACK, STOP-START MOTION + MULTI-DIMENSIONAL,OMNI-DIRECTIONAL PERPETUAL MOTION

INSIDE THE CIRCLE + OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

Over the weekend, as I sat down to re-read the heavily-illustrated book, 'Mapping the Mind', edited by medical journalist Rita Carter & neuropsychologist Christopher Frith [with contributions from Simon Baron-Cohen, Francis Crick, Antonio Damasio, Uta Frith, Richard Gregory, Joseph LeDoux, Sir Roger Penrose, John Maynard Smith, Steven Rose & other leading researchers in brain science] some interesting observations from Dr Simon Baron-Cohen caught my immediate attention once again.

Here's the extract:

"After decades of research into whether and how the sexes differ psychologically, some differences are repeatedly found that, though not true of every individual, certainly emerge when groups are compared.

On average . . .

- Men are better than women at rotating images mentally;

- While women are quicker at spotting when two images are alike;

- And better at generating words;

- Men are more accurate in targeting tasks;

- Women can recognise missing objects;

- Spotting when a particular shape is embedded in a complex pattern is more easily done by men;

- But women can do fine manual tasks, like placing pegs in a board, more easily;

- Mathematical calculation favours women;

- Yet mathematical reasoning comes more readily to men; . . . "

All I know from my previous readings is that the corpus callosum is larger in females, which probably explain their superiority in verbal fluency, than in males.

CREATIVITY & OUR TWO BRAIN HEMISPHERES

The cerebral hemispheres of the human cortex are specialised on the left and right sides; creativity emerges from a combination of attributes from both left and right sides:

The specialisations above appear to be true for 95% of right-handers. However, these can vary also between the sexes.

Women have their brains wired differently to men, and the size and physiology are also known to have some differences, which could turn out to be significant.

What is certain is that we all have the potential to be supercreative.

Our 100 billion neurons are vastly underused and yet we have achieved so much with our Creative Capital.

The prospects are tremendously exciting in The Brain Millennium!

[Excerpted from the 'Igniting Innovation' edition of The Braindancer Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

Say Keng's personal comments:

From what I have understood from neuroscientists, the left and right hemispheres of our brain have the ability to communicate with one another through a small structure, already hardwired with a thick band of nerve fibres, known as the corpus callosum.

So, to build upon what Dilip Mukerjea has talked about in the foregoing essay, I like to share this wonderful insight from American astronomer Carl Sagan (1934-1996):

"Mere critical thinking, without creative and intuitive insights, without the search for new patterns, is sterile and doomed. To solve complex problems in changing circumstances requires the activity of both cerebral hemispheres: the path to the future lies through the corpus callosum."