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  • The way he rolls his 'r's drives me insane! lol

  • damn what happened to his awesome jacke from last time

  • This video is popular on Baku

  • I wonder if psychopaths have some sort of problem in their mirror neurons and therefore they are not capable of feeling empathy for others :)

  • @mdariotic Possibly. But it's much more complicated than that. Mirror neurons operate on a much more basic level. The major problems found in the brain of psychopaths are defecits in structures associated with physiological/emotional excitation and regulation. There are also often problems with learning (ie: rewards and punishments) and memory.

  • Gandhi neurons, so profound. No independent arising of phenomena. The correlation between neuro and contemplative traditions is so fascinating.

  • @Yakko12345 He was your lecturer?!! I'm so envious. My psychology lecturers were so uninspiring.

  • Aside from the facts, I think some of his speculation & interpretations is BS; even animals can immitate, so its not something that has emerged in human population. Immitating a movement is something, but understanding the significance & the purpose of the movement is something else, without recognizing & interpreting other people's action, we wouldn't be self-awared. This neurons only function in immitating a movement, it is not the reason for the ability to learn, although it makes it easier.

  • Our teacher used this in interpretation class =D It was impossible to take notes! But it is very interesting.

  • Rollin those R's so hard

  • i wonder if this results in one feeling higher empathy towards someone they resemble. or who they feel they resemble. up to clothing, way of dress and even social identity. physical and subconscious empathy could be controlled by some mathematics of bodily ego.

  • 29 People's Brain hurt after watching this video.

    

  • Regarding the Stockholm plan, where does the money go?

  • nice ibm advertisement.

  • Finally a video that explains the Trolls and Flamers on YouTube. NO empathy ! They are sub human! Now we can all feel sorry for their social retardation.

  • Huh.

    So I guess the neurological "Great Leap Forward" he's talking about lead not long after to a veritable "Cultural Revolution"?

    Nice.

  • @malus40 Title of his next presentation? "Primatism with Human Characteristics"

    (or just "Deng Xiaoping", for short)

  • iz the neuroscientist saying my thoughts, determined by my environment, helped that wacko in norway do what he did?

  • Doesn't the skin receptors send a positive signal when touched, though? Hence, you don't actually feel the full magnitude of the neurons when you watch somebody being touched if you have an incapacitated arm; the arm will fire "no" signal, i.e. the absence of a negative signal but it will not fire a *positive one*. And a positive signal is greater than the absence of a negative signal, right?

  • I wish he would have given more basis for the whatever evolutionary jump. Don't animals have the same mirror processes? Monkey see Monkey do......now there's some philosophy.

  • So the mirroring effect of commercials following a Sponsored TED talk is the same Money/Tax 'advancement' to curb traffic flow as seen in the IBM commercial??

  • Why the fuck is there a solid 3 minutes of ads at the end of the vid? lol

  • Mirroring actions relates to judgment/anticipation. If an action might affect me I prepare by emulating it in my brain. What he refers to as a mirror neuron is actually an information neuron, preserved for the life of the people who have been influenced by the event either through direct observation or communication via complex language. The phantom limb stuff also relates to judgment and anticipation - not skin receptors telling the brain not to worry. Google Complex Evolution Consciousness.

  • @TheAccurate1 Yeah, let's believe something clearly in the format of pseudoscience (CEC) and disregard the actual scientist. Mmhmm.

  • its why for those that believe in the bible, pornography is wrong, because your brain is firing as if your having sex, that is why porn is stimulating. That is why it is adultery to God, for those that believe in God, is classified as adultery, because your watching others have sex.

  • @andydrew105

    Yep, 'cause they knew about mirror neurons when they wrote the bible.

  • @wacked0ne any enlightened person would know exactly how their body works. actually in the context of this video, an understanding of mirror neurons is the basis of any revelation. so probably someone or other involved in writing the bible knew about mirror neurons.

  • its why for those that believe in the bible, pornography is wrong, because your brain is firing as if your having sex, that is why porn is stimulating. That is why it is adultery to God, for those that believe in God, is classified as adultery.

  • I think he's Indian, but I had a question, if that's true then do people who lose a limb or a body organ in an accident experience what they watch happen to other people's limbs and organs ?

  • Fuck IBM

  • What accent be that?

  • @Dropnuggets Indian

  • he switches from pronouncing R and rolling his tongue and it throws me off

  • he switches from pronouncing R and rolling his tongue and it throws me off

  • This guy was my prof at UCSD. Always an entertaining lecturer.

  • @Yakko12345 o, you lucky bastard to have had this guy as a professor. Ramachandran is one of the great geniuses of our time.

  • @Yakko12345 oh wow, I'm so jealous!

  • @Yakko12345 u lucky bastard :D

  • Wtf was that commerical at the end... big brother much?!

  • Love that brogue.

  • @jimmayl1

    if the amputee has a mirror to his left side, then his right arm looks like his left arm in the reflection...and then maybe if the patient watches his right arm being squeezed in the mirror, he might feel relief in his phantom left arm. there's another vid on youtube where dr ramachandran explains this...he's treated patients using this phantom box (with a mirror).

  • Duh.

  • @GrudgyDiablo

    Yes it is Grudgy - It explains so much more than it asks.

    8))) <3

  • The way we are wired, amazing, but how does God fit into this? Check us out for a video on Neurons give us some feedback!

  • Say someone has an amputated left arm and the remaining right arm is squeezed. Will the left phantom arm feel anything or will there be a feedback signal from the right arm that will halt the phantom left from feeling anything?

  • @jimmayl1 i can't remember correctly but i think there's a certain part of an amputee's face when touched stimulates their phantom arm, or at least produces a feeling in an arm that isn't there. im not positive, but i think it's something like that

  • @jimmayl1 that would be weird because the brain would likely tell you that what u feel is in your right arm. but as he explains it, if you numb your left shoulder downwards, and see others touch their left arm you can feel the touch with the phantom arm..

  • words cannot...

    what's the word?

    someone type it out for me, I might be able to pick it up.

  • Could this mean that human beings are a super organism like ants or bees?

  • @ANDR3W1848

    Yes!

  • Love this Guy !!!

    I am watching the mirror box being used in the stroke unit where my mother is .

    Vancouver Island , Canada .

  • Stunning information in this talk!

  • Correction: Sorry, we have 100 billion neurons, thus ten times more glial cells equals one trillion glial cells.

  • There are ten times as many glial cells in the brain as there are neurons. The billion glial cells were long thought to be packing or padding for the neurons, since they surround each neuron, but have no electrical activity themselves. Recently it has been discovered that glial cells do communicate with each other, with a method called 'calcium surges'. Neurons comprise only one-tenth of our brain, what are the glial cells talking to each other about? The future will tell.

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  • @slugdub101 The mirror neurons were first found in macaque monkeys, in the early 1990's.Later verified in humans.

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  • Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr­rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

  • Ramachandran is amazing. He should have the same status and fame as Einstein, Freud, and Darwin.

  • @040wATTcLUb I agree! What an enchanting speaker. Amazing man. The implications of this for so many fields of science, anthropology, linguistics and psychology, is vast.

  • He probably emphasizes on the RRRRRR in his name... Rrrramachndrrran..

  • Incapacitate your body from the neck and down and then watch porn?

  • @fasantupp LOL, I'd so try that!

  • @fasantupp

    you win.

    

  • @fasantupp That is the immediate obvious first thought lol! Scary!!

  • Interesting. If it's true I wonder what would happen when you just imagine someone scratching his hand. Would be these neurons reacting too? ;)

  • While I am a HUGE fan of Ramachandran, it should be noted that there are some VERY good criticisms against the idea of mirror neurons.

    For example, Greg Hickok has argued in the literature (and his blog, haha) that "there is little or no evidence to support the mirror neuron=action understanding hypothesis and instead there is substantial evidence against it."

    Google "talking brains Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and humans."

  • if u cannot comprehend it and then reject this idea then its your view but trying to make people believe that this idea is totally absurd without relevant evidence and authority in your part compared to V.S Rama while hiding in this cyber space does not hold ur views as valid...period!!!!

  • Doesn't it seem logical that psychopaths, lacking empathy, must have mal-functioning Gandhi neurons? On the other hand, humans like Gandhi must have over-active Gandhi neurons.

  • @geezzerboy Interesting question. As far as I'm aware, psychopaths are aware of the emotions of other people and are/can be very manipulative because of it. So maybe they do have functioning Gandhi neurons but, for whatever other reason, are unable to translate that emotion into their own. On the other hand, maybe it is the case that their Gandhi neurons don't work and the brain tries instead to translate what it's perceiving using the other, non-Gandhi mirror neurons. Who knows.

  • @geezzerboy Or they use them for a different purpose. They are also used for imprinting and certain predatory skills. A predator may imagine chasing his prey before he actually does and take note of what animals lift their heads and look around. They have his number. The one not aware is "sleeping".

    I don't see how people can not make such observation of connection simply by observing humans socializing and communicating. It's not mind reading as reading is objective. But still helpful.

  • I feel like I'm in a censured classroom! But all I was tryn to note (harmlessly) was that these findings do pull together a great deal of the myths, spiritual traditions, and ancient sciences we have to date found no strong science for ok, Big Bro?

  • Which words (G rated, unquestionably) won't they allow? I've tried repeatedly to post my concepts and they repeatedly say YouTube not availble...but these defanged statements post! Wow...

  • I notice now that YouTube will not permit certain points to be released as comments, this is very disheartening. Wat happend to freedom of sharing ideas? I submit generic points that post but others that carry cognitive weight say YouTube not available... What gives?

  • How intriguing! I had to pause this and resume at another time because of the implications herein.

  • So many people will take this video the wrong way.

  • Don't you see what this is??? It's the Third eye and science finally found it! Eureka moment!

  • I am not at all shocked that we have found populations of neurons in the motor cortex that fire when we see similar actions being performed by others.

    Motor cortex feedback loops from the visual system are the only way for us to learn how to move our limbs in space. Try doing anything without the hand-eye feedback system - its magnitudes harder.

    Sensory "empathy" is more interesting but still I don't think is out of the blue given the abstraction abilities of our brains. Good talk though!

  • I think the neuroscience is unremarkable on its own, as are the philosophical theories of collective conciousness. What I like about this is the attempt to unite the two and using science to answer traditionally philosphoical questions.

    The real neuroscience breakthrough, which many philosophers will argue is impossible (particularly dualists thinkers), will come at the discovery of the neural substrate of conciousness and knowing exactly how it works.

  • Interesting stuff. The more often neurons fire the more likely they are to fire again (ie have a particular thought). So if this is how our brains work - by mimicking other's actions in our own thought processes, what does that mean for kids watching media generated images of violence etc? Do they have the mimic neurons firing whilst doing so & then are therefore more likely to carry out those action in real life? I wonder...

  • The neurology's irrelevant to the media violence debate. Imagine a study where a set of kids are 1st denied, then allowed violent media and their violence rated before and after. That might suggest whether violent media causes real violence but doesn't refer to neural mechanisms at all. Conversely, mirror neurons might make kids copy violent behaviour they see in media or might make them more empathetic and so less violent. The mechanism doesn't predict either way.

  • omg prof VS Ramachandran is a pimp...if any of you guys know any better, he is the author of Phantoms in the brain. he basically (by himself) found a way to cure pains for people with amputated limbs. this guys is one of the worlds leading neuroscientist....the jock of the science world...so unless you guys have at least a college degree, i would reframe from making stupid comments...

  • 4:32

    Hehe. Porn.

  • @YawnGod

    fagot!

  • LFD

    "Derogatory Term Principle"

    in it's purest form - so you feel that the term faggot represents an entity you have no idea about?

    or

    Represents your personal bias and bigotry?

    "When Dogma goes full circle, you wind up with your head reappearing through your neck, from your arse, but you will be permanently twisted"

  • @MilitantPeaceist

    Fagot!

  • @LFlawedD

    ;)

  • For all the males out there just imagine seeing someone kicked in the balls.

    If you cringed then you felt his pain in a way lol

  • The way you feel it is empathic, which is what VS is saying. If you really felt it the way you're implying you'd be on the floor writhing.

  • it all depends on the person

  • Is this new or just reinterpretation ? Whats with the advert at the end "TED"

  • So if someone has their dick cut off and they watch a porno they gonna feel like they're having sex?

  • @DrInfidel HAHAHA thats cool

  • Actually, that's a reason why castration isn't an effective way to prevent child molesters from reoffending. That would explain why it's still possible for someone who's been castrated to get strong sexual/other excitement from whatever they're doing.

  • i've been trying to watch this video for three days now and i cant get it to work.. it this happening to anyone else?

  • The brain is so fucking crazed.

  • Thank god a Neuroscientist finally says we are all connected, now how do we let the world know?

  • This also describes why so many people watch porn.

  • You nail it... its funny but true. Sex is mostly impersonal and work on visual basis. So no need for partner if you have nice 'Tits and Asses V' on shelf. Joke aside... you right! :P

  • @theshermany yeah, just get your body numbed and ENJOY ! :D

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  • @alokbagga

    I think I should. It may be a few weeks before I get or locate a copy though.

  • @theshermany. I thought the same thing, scrolled down, and saw that it was the first comment. I love the internet.

  • @theshermany ...why so many armless people watch porn.

  • @michaelgoldstrom They're masochists?

  • @theshermany i will never beat off the same again

  • @theshermany genius comment

  • @theshermany haha, yeah. That was an immediate thought. It becomes a replacement for relationship, but it's problem is that porn omits many other crucial benefits of being in a relationship. Could an advanced porn sufficiently replace a human in all areas?

  • @theshermany Hmm.... porn, a mirror, a phantom penis... hmm....

    Still chary about that.

  • There is no you or me, the thing separating you from the chair is thought! So ppl long time ago asked the question to the source itself, what is thought, who am i?

  • Even with a popped collar VS is cool.

  • I'm wondering if it just concerns humans. What if you watch a dogs ear being touched, for instance?

  • But if you see one dog bait other dog ear you almost fell the pain, you start to empathizing with it right?

  • VS ramachandran... wat a ledgend

  • 6:10

    "[if you] remove [your] skin...you've dissolved the barrier between you and other human beings"

  • we are all connected

  • Anyone else having problems playing this particular video?

  • Comment removed

  • Humans are a lot smarter than animals and have richer culture, language, behaviour, and society.

  • This just in from CommonRaven: in order to know the likelihood of anything, you have to be omniscientist. Scientists everywhere are fired after this revelation meets their employers.

  • The rebuttal to this is a known point as well: atheists are the same as athorists and aclaustics; it's impossible to know with 100% that God, Thor, or Santa Claus don't exist, but it is beyond all reasonable doubt. Most people don't feel compelled to say "it's overwhelmingly likely that Santa doesn't exist", they just flat out say it. We'd waste so much time if we always spoke with strict logical precision and it's seldom necessary.

  • Yes, I went with Yahweh as a concrete example of a specific definition that can be disproved. Others exist.

    The book that claims he has those characteristic also claims he says certain things are moral/immoral. In that same book, he violates some of those moral precepts. If God claims murdering innocents is evil, and God murders innocents, then he is evil by his own definition. Such is in his book, as well as many other actions he himself defines as evil.

  • jajajajja seguia si

  • che q copado , me encanto!

  • The problem is, there's no real definition of God. But there are certainly some descriptions of God that can be shown to be logical contradictions. And as you know from that freshman logic class, a contradiction refutes a logical argument.

    God is omniscient, omnipotent, and moral.

    Evil exists.

    This is a contradiction, just as "a 4-sided triangle" is.

  • Great video. Very interesting, including the ending.

  • You do not fully grasp te black swan. That and your weird ideas on statistics are your primary arguments ? That is not the real world.

    We fully understand where error margins and discrepancies come from. With calibrated methods we can predict events so precisely, the margins are well beyond 2 decimal points.

    Arrogance is to insist raising that 0.008% and elevating it to a note worthy and fact shattering chance. When you could know that this is rubbish.

    0.008% perhaps is unproven. So what ?

  • Stop kidding yourself, you have no clue what you are on about, and it is getting a bit silly.

    What would you think we should use to predict anything ?.

    The black swan analogy, we have gone over all ready. I think you do not fully understand the black swan theory. ( which differs from the black swam problem ).

  • It would be horribly tedious if I had to go in to every tiny bit of uncertainty and apoligize of 2% or less of a "statistical" margin of error.

    With 98% odds, I'd not bet my life on the other 2%, and therefore I is as good as fact.

    Basically It is just expression,semantics and language we are talking about, because we pretty much mean the same thing,but by your definition, a "fact" is a impossibility.

    I'd say a 98% chance of snow is pretty factual.

    The 2% off-chance is negligible.

  • You are indeed only guessing.

    I hope not that you are implying that we know WHAT gravity is ?

    In fact the ironic thing is that applied physics is a major part of the sector I am active in. Especially radiometric analysis, which, as you might like to wiki, is entirely based on statistical analysis.

    Look it up, o2 isotope, c14, uranium-thorium, fission track dating.

    All of which produce statistic results. Are you saying that the methods are flawed because not every particle is measured?

  • Wow, cool tangential conversations being spawned from this talk.

    I enjoyed the speaker's conjectures. These kind of talks are what originally made me dig TED so much.

    It's a rad time to be alive. For thousands of years our species has inhabited this Earth, and only now are we really capable of destroying it/understanding it/physically leaving it.

    It's like I've got front row seats to the best show in the galaxy. I wonder if every generation feels this way?

  • Even though Ramachandran is one of the top scientists in the world right now, in this video he messes up a bit, and going a bit too far. I dont blame him, he's on the wave.

    BUT, thats why worshipping is not good. Everyone has their favourite persons(and i know there are loads of Ramachandran's fans out there), and each time they do a mistake, you should acknowledge it, and realise it, and dont take everything to be true just because the MOST of the things he said were true...

  • @tudoralexe

    Mistakes?

    What did he error?

  • Reality is falsifiable? That means you can prove reality wrong? I think you don't know the definition of the word. Unfalsifiable means that it is a claim that is impossible, even in principle, to falsify - i.e. prove wrong.

    Sure you can't "calculate" the likelihood of something falsifiable, I would never imply you can, but the question is do you treat is as likely i.e. accept it, or do you treat as unlikely, i.e. reject it. The only rational choice is to reject unfalsifiable claims.

  • Statistics mislead only if not understood or used out of context, something that the media is fairly good at.

    Statistical analysis is a crucial part of every scientific field.

    Your analogy is also flawed. We do make odds on the weather and economics and generally they work.

    We also can not know the position, speed, and direction of a single water molecule, but still we can make really accurate predictions on behaviour of a body of water.

    Your "not knowing the factors" concept is flawed.

  • We can't predict accurate weather ( which is to say, that weather prediction are done extremely locally, and are usually scarily precise ) that accurately because we indeed, do not have all the data.

    The results are predictable and good though, and not calculating the possibility of a killer asteroid is quite logical because of the ODDS of such a thing upsetting our current climate and throwing a nuclear winter at our asses !.

    Weather prediction do not NEED to take into account a meteor !.

  • Finally : We stand on the moon, together, and I hold aloft a stone. "What will happen when I let go of this moonrock ?" I ask.

    Could you, having been aloud to investigate all realms of possibility, come up with a satisfactory answer and estimate ?

    Or would you be hampered by the little irritating fact that we have no inkling on what gravity is AT ALL ?

  • Ehhh. Statistical data is interpreted analysis of empirical data. You clearly have no clue here. Lets move on.

    In research, an anomalous reading is often the case, this is called an "outller. A array of points rarely make a straight line.

    In you deck of 52 cards, I will never get an outlier of course. But with any deck, after 8 trillion times you come along and insist that I have to seriously consider the queen of poofs is also in the deck, Why would I even consider that as semi-probable?

  • The reason why it is logically impossible to prove or disprove is that it is an unfalsifiable claim.  That's the important concept- unfalsifiability. I care whether my beliefs are likely or not, and the question is: should I treat unfalsifiable claims as likely or unlikely? There is only one rational choice that doesn't leave you also believing Vishnu, Santa and all other unfalsifiable claims.

  • "Missing the point" is something we both excel at seemingly. And, again, you are right that 100% exclusion on anything is not feasible.

    You are wrong about using odds though. The very existence of using odds are based on the fact that not having all the data is a reoccurring theme in knowledge gathering. Perhaps I should have called it statistics, but I assumed you understand that both are essentally the same.

    Beyond reasonable doubt is based on probability. The same is used in research.

  • Deck of cards :. Correct, Assume I know nothing of the amount of cards or what is on them. Lets imagine, I do not know why somebody would but it is!, that this information is prohibited from me. I would simply draw 1 card 5200 times and then If could, after the analysis, tell you with a reasonable measure of certainty the nature of the deck. Would I be able to proof or disproof the existence of the "Ace of gogo'dancers"?, no, but why would I? Nothing requires this.

  • When I talk about a supernatural thing that is false, I naturally mean that, in light of science and it's track-record, the explanation for a detailed phenomenon will more likely be the scientific one then the supernatural one.

    When A supernatural concept disagrees with a scientific concept, it is even more clear that the empirical and statistical data are better equipped to describe the natural world for us.

    Things that are currently unknown and not required for explanation, are just that.

  • What if I anaesthetise my penis and then watch porn?

  • that commercial at the end was awesome. nothing like that would ever get passed here in America because everyone would say their rights are being stripped away and that it's socialism. lol

  • Awesome! 5 stars!  I love neuroscience.

  • You fail.

  • I love how he rolls his "R's" rRRrrrRrrR

  • Prof. Ramachandran teaches at my old alma mater U.C.S.D. and he is a brilliant in his field of behavioral neurology. However, he is out of his depth on the Anthropological front. This is where he makes a lot of critical mistakes.

  • He shows a slide about "Culture and Civilization" he calls the Great Leap Forward, and talks about 5 things that came about and rapidly spread 75,000 to 100,000 years ago:

    1. Tool Use

    2. Fire

    3. Shelter

    4. Language

    5. Theory of Mind

    The problem is not one of these emerged/spread to the whole population during this time period:

  • 1. Tool use goes back 2,000,000 years ago with the first tools, with slow ongoing evolution of tool kit complexity since. We know that all human ancestors used tools from that time forward without exception.

  • 2. Fire was first domesitcated 1,000,000 years ago by Homo Erectus and has been used by all homind decents since then.

  • 3. Shelter sites for humans have occurred as early as 500,000 years ago altough they became much more widespread with the rise of Homo Sapiens. There is lots of debate about what constitutes shelters, so some definitions push shelter/nesting site creation back a million or more years.

  • 4. Language, in terms of what we understand like modern languages, is not known when it arose, but many think these came into being less than 100,000 years ago.

  • 5. This is very young, and certainly less than 25,000 years. This is the age of the oldest sites that indicate abstract thinking among our ancestors.

  • In a similar vein, his slide includes 'Civilization' in the title, and the first true civilizations didn't arise until 6,000-8,000 years ago.

  • His biggest conjecture is that this explosive change happened due to the rise of this mirror neural system in humans at this time. The problem is that he doesn't provide any paleontological evidence for this changed at this time (setting aside all of the timeline issues above). If he had endocasts of humans 100,000 years ago and 125,000 years ago showing these changes, that would be strong evidence for at least the rise of mirror neurons at that time.

  • Another mistake is making the claim that it is this mirror neural system that explains the sudden rise in an invention being transmitted across and down generations and that this is a uniquely human adaptation that explains modern humans. The problem is that this kind of cultural transmission pattern has been seen in numerous primate species and in elephants.

  • How do you know those species don't have a primitive form of our mirror neurons that allows them to transmit behavior?

  • He then makes a complete mess when he takes about Darwinian/Lamackian evolutionary paradigm differences and how he thinks it applies here. When he illustrates his point with a discussion of the evolutionary adaptation of protective coats in polar bears and the killing of said polar bear by a human ancestor, the confusion on his part is complete. Uugh! The polar bear didn't learn to wear a thick, protective coat over hundreds of thousands of years.

  • You're taking the word "learn" too literally.

  • The rest of the lecture on empathy neurons is interesting but subject to a variety of interpretations. His insistence that we are literally connected to each other via our neurons is an argument that completely escapes me. I don't see how his argument leads to that conclusion. Similarly when he says there is no distinction between the consciousness of two people, it is belied by the obviously observable fact that this isn't the case. This has been demonstrated empirically again and again.

  • Very brilliant people can get themselves into trouble when they stray outside their areas of core competence. Such is the case here when Prof. Ramachandran starts to discuss man's evolutionary past and what may have constituted fundamental changes in the recent past. He is wrong about the date for the use of fire or that cultural transmission is lateral and then downward only in humans. His statements do not reflect the consensus held by physical anthropologists and evolutionary ones. Oops!

  • Yeh that was interesting since wasn't Homo habilis 2.3 million to 1.4 million years ago at the beginning of the Pleistocene period attributed with the beginning of tool, fire use, and culture?

    However, I still think the path he discusses science is considering is fascinating.

  • Wouldn't it be nicer to focus on the correlation he's established. I'm no scientist, humble computer programmer I am, a poor mans philosopher... if the action resulted in an observable correlated neural impulse in two individuals, one feeling & observing while the other only observing, it's possible that correlation is no more than what it seems, localizing some action / reaction pair. No need to get excited for the wrong reasons.

  • @thebytegrill ... what I mean is one felt it, the other saw it, yet both observed/empathized an action probably stored in a similar part of the brain. Long way to go no doubt before we call it.

  • @thebytegrill

    Oh I agree, I'm not trying undermine his research.

    Personally I don't think he went nearly far enough with the implications.

    Research that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated by independent studies show human conscious awareness and observation has visible physical effects on mechanical and electronic objects and devices.

    There is definitely a level of reality science and humans are not currently able to comprehend.

  • @mattghtpa

    Rubbish. Give me some peer reviewed articles that show evidence for any:

    "human conscious awareness and observation has visible physical effects on mechanical and electronic objects and devices"

    You are not serious right?