Episode 176: Split-Brains and the (Dis)Unity of Consciousness

Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler discuss famous 'split brain' experiments pioneered by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga. What happens when you cut off the main line of communication between the left and right hemispheres of our brain? Why under certain conditions do the the left and right brains seem like they have different abilities and desires? What does this tell us about the ‘self’? Do we have two consciousnesses, but only that can speak? Does the left brain bully the right brain? Are we all just a bundle of different consciousnesses with their own agendas? Thanks to our Patreon supporters for suggesting and voting for this fascinating topic!

Plus, physicists may be able to determine whether we’re living in a computer simulation – but is it too dangerous to try to find out?

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Links:

• Opinion | Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Let’s Not Find Out - The New York Times
• Physicists find we’re not living in a computer simulation | Cosmos
• Nagel, T. (1971). Brain bisection and the unity of consciousness. /Synthese/, /22/(3), 396-413.
• CGP Grey video - You Are Two
• Split brains - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Gazzaniga, M. S. (1995). Principles of human brain organization derived from split-brain studies. /Neuron/, /14/(2), 217-228.
• Split brain: divided perception but undivided consciousness | Brain | Oxford Academic
• Interaction in isolation: 50 years of insights from split-brain research | Brain | Oxford Academic
• Dennett, D. C. (2014). The self as the center of narrative gravity. In /Self and consciousness/ (pp. 111-123). Psychology Press.