Aesthetic Universals and the Neurology of Hindu Art - Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

[G716M]

The Indus Valley Civilization is now in Pakistan and India and the part that I and other people who are Punjabis and even people from the Western Himalyas (Kashmiris) and ppl from Delhi are the descendants of those people. Its Really cool.

[G716M]

can someone tell me how to become a neurobiologist im currently an undergraduate student. in Canada

[hyperbolaisagraph]

@G716M Get into a neurobiology PhD program!

[ImpagliazzoBR]

@HyperBorealOperator Intolerance goes both ways, in this case the bigot happened to be a smug brit. ;)

I'm from Br, here you can also see nature pillaged and really filthy rivers while also having great natural resources. This is a problem of developing countries and not at all exclusive to India.

India happens to have both great nature and spiritual resources, I hope they rise to their rightful glory once again.

And yes, I'm a marxist because someone interested in youtube arguing says so. ;)

[jesschappellable]

Thank you, Ramachandran, for raising the paradigm bar. You are one of my heroes.

[SenGupta2]

@jesschappellable Is religion neurology mauled by British & English Trying to validate back using modem west education of the same master which humiliated it Non Indian Non Hindu .There is no mention of synapse in Veda

Is religious by definition chess player and be winner for his religion

or Newton trying to build Christianity around Center of Gravity Amazing

construct has been going in history marrying the recent knowledge to correlate by being a neuro 'professor'God

[ImpagliazzoBR]

Great lecture!

[hestoodthere]

i like it when he talks about textural contrast.

[adultgames1]

i wish i had a mind like his

[guerdon6]

brilliant talk from grt man... opened a layer in me :)

[LogicalFlawDetector]

The decimal system comes from India?

*laughter*

This is what happens when you let a scientist out of the lab.

This clown doesn't know anything about the history of science. The Decimal System emanates from ancient China and then was passed on to India where the zero was conceived; then it was passed to the Islamic Caliphate and refined with the decimal point notation.

Mind you, the zero was also conceived by the Mayans.

This Brahmin fool is completely clueless.



[SenGupta2]

@LogicalFlawDetector

Mostly I.T. fCode coolies Asians BPO and H123B Visa clamoring here one comes back with a degree and insignificantly appointed by a indifferent university goes into the Brahmin Chanting in a language he himself does not understand l..How does chanting help It is repetitive nature to establish brain connections developing ability to focus concentrate more .So chanting be replaced b yfatalistics sons of chanters who come to be professors god for indic humiliation of past

[hymnofashes]

I think Caravaggio does a pretty good job mixing the human and the divine.

[Ramshobraja]

Every culture had math, science and art. Western europe succeeded because of capitalism.

[colourmegone]

@Ramshobraja Western Europe succeeded because of war. Western Europeans had the first professional armies, the Romans, and carried the concept through the middle ages, refining and practicing by murdering each other in their millions. Then, after the Enlightenment, they harnessed science and hit the rest of the planet. Those societies that were successful were the best at killing and domination. You don't have to be good at trade if you're using slave labour and guns.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

If the west succeeded due to war, then the Mongols should have been much more successful than the West. They were not. The Muslims in the middle east should have been more successful than the West. They were not. If slavery is a required institution for a thriving civilization, then India would have been the most successful one, since it had the worst form of slavery: Caste-based, religiously motivated slavery. The percentage of slaves in India was more than 50% (lower castes).

[colourmegone]

@LogicalFlawDetector Factual flaw No. 1 read history, India has a very old and thriving civilisation and slavery obviously isn't necessary, people only thought it was. Factual flaw No.2 The Moghul empire enforced peace throughout its territories unlike Europe which has been almost continually at war for 2000 years. The Roman Empire was the last period of sustained peace until WWII. Which leads us to flaw No.3 don't spout a load of uneducated opinion because it seems logical to you.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

You must be one of those loud mouth Hindus. Your first line is a non-sequitur. It has nothing to do with what I said. And the Mughal Empire was not from India, it was originally from Persia. They spoke Persian, which eventually gave birth to Urdu. It was a foreign empire -- just like the British empire -- which only ruled India from 1526 to 1857, until the Anglos kicked their Muslim butts. And the Mughals assiduously destroyed Hindu temples, killed Hindus.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

You sound like you can't even read and comprehend basic English sentences. You said war was Europe's biggest advantage. I gave you counter examples from history which flew in the face of your delusions. And you said slavery also was an advantage for the West. I gave the best example of slavery in India, which has failed to meet the success of Europe. Take your illiterate ramblings to some faith forum. And educate yourself.

[colourmegone]

@LogicalFlawDetector Of course I can read and comprehend basic English, I can write it as well. So here's basic, your reply is wrong, it is based solely on your opinion which is mistaken.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

Call an argument an "opinion" demonstrates your ignorance of logic and proper discourse. It is at best a red herring. I completely refuted your claim that Europe's superiority had roots in war and slavery, by citing well observed counterexamples from history: The Mongols who waged the largest war and held slaves and the Hindus in India whose Mauryan Empire went to war with most of south and central Asia and had lower caste slaves.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

Europe's superiority came from a long, sustained tradition in education, rule of law, secular democracy, research in science and its applications, and capitalism. Every civilization had slaves and went to war. It is human nature. Ignoring all the truths in history, which are obviously against you, you make yourself look stupid. You are the de facto epitome of idiocy. And as a European yourself, you should know better than to trash the great civilization you are part of. 

[colourmegone]

@LogicalFlawDetector "Sustained tradition in education" etc. Oh yeah, there were loads of secular, democratic states in Europe. Who can forget the secular, democratic Prussian League, or the Russian Tsarist democracy or the great democracies of Spain, Portugal, France, etc. etc. England tried throwing off its monarchy but failed, as did France. You live in a dream world. Secular democracy is only a few hundred years old. The Conquests and the Crusades, etc. were carried out by tyrannies.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

Since the Enlightenment, Europe and the United States were more secular compared to their Asian counterparts. That was the point. And you the nonsense you spewed about the Crusades is just that -- nonsense. The Crusades occurred before the Renaissance. And much before the Enlightenment. Religious arguments are virtually absent from all European political discourse. I don't know what dream world you live in. But you need to leave your mom's basement and face the real world.

[colourmegone]

@LogicalFlawDetector Exactly, the Crusades brought back new ideas to the warring states of Europe and sparked the Enlightenment. These ideas came from the relatively SECULAR Islamic culture that the Crusades destroyed. It was an international and hence tolerant culture in the way Catholicism claimed to be. The rights of Christians, Jews and atheists were recognised. Try reading history instead of spouting half-baked opinions, you MIGHT actually profit by it.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

The Christians & Jews lived as second-class citizens and had to pay a religious tax. This was more profitable for the Caliphates than to force the infidels to convert to Islam. This is not "recognition of rights." The Crusades didn't bring back anything. The Italians who were smart enough to recognize the ancient Greek works stored in the Arabic libraries, learned Arabic and converted them to Latin. This paved the way for the Renaissance, the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

You must be one of those self-loathing white leftists. Well, you are also the queen of distortion. The very initial comment you left was regarding the reason for the West's superiority. You said it came from War and Slavery. I gave you counterexamples from history of civilizations who had worse forms of Wars and Slavery but are primitive today. Hope you got schooled on YouTube.

[colourmegone]

@LogicalFlawDetector I did find out there are a lot of fools on YouTube, but that's only to be expected. Watching your self-destruction has been interesting and entertaining. You really should spend more time educating yourself and less demonstrating your pathetically feeble grasp of logic and the facts of history.

Oh, and insulting people by calling them "queen" went out of fashion many years ago I'm glad to say; obviously you never got the memo or perhaps you couldn't read it?

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

Poor liberal wanker you are. Hope you move out of your mom's basement and get to see the real world.

[colourmegone]

@LogicalFlawDetector Gosh, you must be a real YouTube 'intellerlectural'. I think education is a wonderful thing, but some people make me wonder why anyone would want to bother. I have no doubt I've seen much more of the 'real' world than you would ever care to. The BNP doesn't really believe in travel to broaden one's mind do they?

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@colourmegone

LoL Time to stop feeding the troll.

[ajitakamal]

@LogicalFlawDetector

War and slavery are generic. The West became wealthier (not superior in a generic way) than the rest o0f the world because of the influence of colonialism, which for 300 years transferred wealth from Asia, Africa and South America to Europe and the White colonies, allowing the West the right environment for the scientific enlightenment and the industrial revolution, built on cheap labor and free raw materials from the colonies.

[TheDharmaArmyofASIA]

@ajitakamal rite on

[Ramshobraja]

@colourmegone It was the industrial revolution that helped Europe succeed. But yeah the Europeans waged a shitload of war.

[anuragchoubey]

now i knw his AMYGDALA is not restricted to d subject of science alone!!!!!!

[DoubleDutchBust]

8:48am Monday (CST) - Time in

Mississippi, United States of America

Einsteinascalleditthemostthemo­st by

[gonedoolali]

What a clever articulate man - Entertaining friendly easy to follow -Hey do a TV series man you have the personality and the carriage and the wow factor.

I learned a lot -Riveting

Thank you

[timxcampbell]

Agreed! Whenever there's a video or audio with Ramachandran, I check it out.

[zapproowsdower]

Meant to add, the great pyramid incorporates into its geometry many things - earth's polar circumference, spherical trigonometry, pi, golden ratio, precession of the equinoxes... also it's geographical location implies knowledge of calculus.

and of course the structural engineering that to date can not be recreated using modern equipment. All this from over 12,000 years ago.

[zapproowsdower]

People love arguing about the origin of knowledge. Sorry, almost all of you are wrong. You can argue about who inherited which wisdom from whom, but to argue who CREATED the knowledge in the first place, is laughable.

Only examples needed - Khufu's pyramid in Giza and the Great Sphinx. They're part of the same plateau and were built contemporaneously. Problem is, the sphinx has thousands of years of rain erosion. Giza's been dry for 7000 years. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

[koobcamorp1]

Many thanks for posting this very interesting video.

[markinu]

and Japan succeeded, but indians intead of getting bettter they got worse.

Does that tell you something about your crappy culture and country?

[movieguy7589]

ur head is crappy...India has come a long way since independence....50 years ago 99% of the population was poverished....2009 23% are poverished...and before u make retarded statements do some research first...like Knowing that India had the world's richest economy from 1st to 15th century....until the islamists and british came over to exploit, loot and destory it...so fuck off u uneducated faggot...

[markinu]

LOL let me see

google this:

/File:Per_capita_GDP_of_South_­Asian_economies_%26_SKorea_(19­50-1995).png

and look at what failure you people are.

Per capita for a period of time you lost out LOL

LOL

If it were not for the british you idiots would still be burying widows

[movieguy7589]

u just seem to get dumber don't u....what did I just say u failed dumbfuck....ofcourse I know what Japan or South Korea's gdp per capita is because they are developed u retarded snail....India's gdp per capita is increasing and will reach those levels once it is developed...even china has lower per capita income than those developed economies u mentioned....because of population...and quit fingering yourself cause u r laughing out loud for no reason...

[movieguy7589]

if it wasn't for the british what?...says u ...u retarded fool...even british historians admit to the theft and stealing that they did in India...and one more thing India has done more than all those small asian countries combined that u mentioned...in the filed of math, science and arts...but u r too dumb to understand history...cause u r some gooky looking, slant eyed bitch with a little weiner who wants to prove his worth by going on youtube spewing sludge cause u eat everything...fuck off...

[markinu]

well, the fool is you., because you did not understand the graph.

Had you any brain cell you whould have seen that in the 50s south korea was at the SAME level as India.

That South Korea was at the same level as India, and now it's 5x as much as India is something Indians should be ashamed of.

You have been fooling around since independence,and the South Koreans have been working hard, and now since 10 years you started working LOL

[markinu]

you know what, you did not invent the zero... that's

the bablyonians where using the zero in year 130

and romans, the chinese, and Mesoamericans did so before the indians.

You have been cheated, your teachers cheated you.

There is a wikipedia page on the history of the zero, and clearly the indian zero appeared at 450. That's late.

[movieguy7589]

u know what...u r a retard cause zero was invented in the indus valley just like weights and measures and that's years before any of the civilizations you mentioned...so get a grip and get a life cause u r arguing on the wrong page....this video is about arts u imbecile...why r u even in here....fuck off from here...art enthusiasts do not like talking to fools like u....

[markinu]

Indus river valley, that's ratarded.

Indians say zero was invented by Aryabhatta that's after year 450.

You are liars, just like the Arabs. You stole the inventionl

The facts are clear, other civilizations arrived first.

[movieguy7589]

hindus say?....u r retarded... historians say that...archaelogists say that....mathematicians say that....fuck off...only thing clear is your dumb brain...cause there is nothing in it.....loser...get a life....

[movieguy7589]

false education u retarded fool...it's in all textbooks...u dumbfuck...chink inbred...with googly eyes....cockroaches like u with little wieners like to talk much...if u meet me in person I will knock your teeth out....

[IKNOWALLABOUTALL]

I'm going to give you a bit of advice. If you want people to take your arguments seriously you need to stop insulting people and perhaps cite some sources.

You are very enthusiastic but reading your comments is an ugly experience.

[Z3pp371n]

What does zero have to do with aesthetic universals?

Anyhow, I was curious so I checked. Wiki says: The concept of zero as a number and not merely a symbol for separation is attributed to India where by the 9th century AD practical calculations were carried out using zero, which was treated like any other number, even in case of division.[9][10]

[markinu]

That's a stretch from saying the Indians invented the zero. The Mayans had no contact with the old world and yet, they had a concept of zero. There is an interesting entry about Mayan mathematics in wikipedia.

If different cultures can get to the same conclusion, I wonder if we should call the zero an invention or a discovery.

[IronGuy100]

India developed mathematics, including the decimal system, algebra

[Kindred1a1]

algebra was from Iraq. man called "Algabria"

[IronGuy100]

Silly argument. algebra is not from one person. Labels mean nothing. It developed in India from generation to generation in ancient India and brought to the West by arabs.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@IronGuy100

Algebra was initiated by the Greeks, developed by the Persians (who only published their results in Arabic, due to religious requirements), and was substantially developed in the West. Mind you, the number of mathematical publications in the first half of the 20th century in the west far out numbers all the publications which came before combined. Linear Algebra and Abstract Algebra, two western concepts, would trump all others which came before.

[gujjucheap]

not it came from kerela in india

[timxcampbell]

Yeah, and arithmetic was invented by a Viking dude named Ari Thmetic, right?

[Z3pp371n]

9. Bourbaki, Nicolas (1998). Elements of the History of Mathematics. Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York: Springer-Verlag. 46. ISBN 3540647678.

10. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (2007), entry algebra

[markinu]

yeah right, over 7 dollars month is over poverly line. LOL

so what you are telling me is that 77% of indians are not poor because they earn more than 7 dollars a month

[captandevil]

Have u ever been to India? there is one rule in that never compare oranges with apple, though both are good for health but both are completely different!!!

[markinu]

Well, the fact is that growning a 10-15% a year is better than growing at 2-3% a year (close to population growth rate).

Such idiotic statment blaming others for one's problems don't help because they don't indentify the root causes, which a bad economic managment. india has made reforms which are working.

Statments about slavery and war are also ignorant. Slavery existed before contact with the west, and african empires like the Zulu empire engaged in genocide. Human nature is what it is.

[markinu]

That is not white??? That means that white people even though they had been colonies can succeed and others can't LOL

singapore, hong kong, macau, south korea, malaysia, taiwan have been very successful

In any case you are an idiot. Can't blame your problems on something that happened 100 of years ago. You vote for Mugabe not me LOL.

Now enjoy LOL

[URbloodMYfist]

the whole of western cilivisation is based on fundamental sciences and logic foudned in the east,,,numbers, maths, concept of zero, infifnity, The most important inportant discovery of human history in the east,, the west wanted to go to the east to tap into tthat wealth, that knowledge ...these are all facts!!!...they looted those lands to make themselves rich!! fact!!...made out asia to be a poverrty striken place...lmaoo..the poverty that they created....

[URbloodMYfist]

INDIA AND CHINA...will overtake europe and americas economy....why???....BECAUSE ITs taken 100yrs for them to get back on their feet....sort out the lack of education, health care, peace...that was taken away from them by invading forces....THE TRUTH IS FOR 18 OUT 21ST CENTURYS ASIA was the first world...europe was the third world.....NOW THAT THEY CANNOT PROSPEROUS FROM slavery, or harsh taxation, or IMPOSE TRADE RESTRCITIONS, gain wealth from empires...its gona be playin second fiddle to asia!

[markinu]

india was late, korea was early

that proves that it's india's fault for having corropt politicians and being to late to embrace capitalism.

if these countries were so advanced why did they get couquered LOL

They got conquered because they were shitty in the first place.

[markinu]

Slavery, what cheek. You guys had the worst form of slavery. You have the caste system. What about those. Those are not exploited??

Those are not slaves???

The untouchables

[URbloodMYfist]

is that the looting that took PLACE..FOR 300 HUNDRED YEARS..ITS WEALTH GENERATED FOR EUROPE AND AMERICA.....is now begining to decline the gap that they created by taking one person wealth giving them poverty and taking it giving them wealth is now getting smaller..WHY...cos the land of asia has been prosperous for over 2000 years...and the blip in their history that left them with nothing and europe with everything is now AS IT IT ALWAYS going to be....is SWINGING BACK INTO ASIA FAVOUR!!

[URbloodMYfist]

if my theory is correct !!.....INDIA WAS LOOTED FOR 300 YEARS.......taken from a RICH LAND TO A POVERTY STRIKEN LAND.......where its peoples wealth was taken out of the country,,where its people where to work in plantations,, ...fight wars which did not involve them,,,,,restricted to practive their faith in their own land, temples that date further than anything in rome destroyed...FOOD diverted away from india to europe....creating 20 famines in a land that never saw a famine....MY THEORY IS>

[URbloodMYfist]

india africa, america china japan was europes BIGGEST CASH COW FOR 300 HUNDRED YEARS......they BUILT their economy with looting, with 100000% RETURN on slave plantations, they inposed harsh trade restriction, they imposed high taxes on the people, they tried to erase native culture and religon...HOW CAN U SAY SLAVERY DID NOT BENEFIT EUROPE AND AMERICA???....india did not have one single famine why??..cos it was a rich prosperous land...until the brits lOOTED ITS WAELTH...21 famines in 100 yrs

[URbloodMYfist]

do u realise that india was the richest land on eath before it was raped by europeans countries for 300 years, the estimatted wealth taken frund in to the hundreds of billions, afirca was looted its wealth taken back to europe....so DONT GIVE ME UR BULLSHIT...the whole world economy is a result of the european setup that ensures that the west maintians advatage,,,are u really sayin that the CREATING EMPIRES ACROSS THE WORLS DID NOT GENERATE ANY WEALTH!! lmaoooo.....

[nofrig]

Very interesting lecture.

[URbloodMYfist]

i wish he had said more about the rape of india by britain.

[IKNOWALLABOUTALL]

Don't forget India has also benefited from British influence. Railways, roads, canals, telegraph links and bridges were rapidly built in India.

Also the teachings of the english language united many Indiana and is serving India well as English is the international language of business.

India, just prior to British rule wasn't the utopia that you are suggesting. The situation is not that simple. Yes I have visited and worked in India.

[gujjucheap]

india would have aquired railways and such from trade anyway, india was a modern land when the europeans cae and the richest in the world. we were not savages in need of enlightened western technology

[LogicalFlawDetector]

@URbloodMYfist

Idiot, what do you mean rape India? Indians, especially Brahmin filth like you, raped the lower castes themselves. The British brought civilization to the savages in India. The University system, rule of law, western science and medicine (had your vaccines?), Constitutional Democracy, western form of government (representative democracy), modern technology (ever lived without electricity? Apart from the frequent power shortages in India, that's it.) and of course the railways.

[ImpagliazzoBR]

@LogicalFlawDetector "The British brought civilization to the savages in India." - All your jib-jabbery gets invalidated by this prejudiced, racist, narrow minded phrase. I'd rather a million times be descendant from these "savages" than to be descendant from westerners that deem others as savages merely because they can't understand them. And look what "civilization" has brought us, it's destroying nature. Great contribution by the west! Laughable.

[acidcrashguy]

@LogicalFlawDetector recently studied the history of vaccination. It seems that the British stole the cow pox vaccine by observing Indian villagers and commercialized it in Europe to make the small pox vaccine. Secondly constitutional democracy has been a big failure, Rule of Law ( go read history again). Actually i just think you need education.

[URbloodMYfist]

great man, great mind, india was rich and powerful before it was raped,

[jezmundberserker]

His talks are always awesome.

[deepupillai]

I received my Masters degree from his hands...

[olivebates]

@deepupillai

ur my secondary hero :0

[DarwynJackson]

Wow. I wanna do him so hard. That was amazing.

[100daysUntill]

great speech

[Suitheist]

Ha ha Texas!

[luckycharms8282]

do you know how to contact him????

[luckycharms8282]

this guy is a very smart man. he's helped a lot of people. i also like the way he talks

[berryjinin]

what do you mean he has helped a lot of people?

[Ashitakaandsan]

@luckycharms8282 he has a very emphatic voice, the roll of the tongue is awesome too

[collapseofthedollar]

cool!