X-Message-Number: 15542
From: "Pat Clancy" <>
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 20:27:19 -0800
Subject: Re: snippet

Joseph Kehoe wrote:

> Researchers in Canada say that our ability to understand the thoughts of
> other people - to some times "read between the lines" - appears to be
> generated by a single region in the brain. And they say this discovery may
> therefore hold part of the explanation for what makes us "human".

> Understanding what other people are thinking is one of the qualities that sets
> human beings apart from other primates.

This sounds like typical neuroscience hype to me. I mean, just because I 
figure out that the cpu in my computer heats up when it's doing a lot of 
computing, doesn't mean I understand a thing about how it actually works. 
Localizing something in the brain is supposed to mean we understand the 
associated higher thought processes? I would assert that even if we had a 
_complete wiring diagram_ of the brain (or _a_ brain since no two could be
exactly alike) we still wouldn't know much about the mind.

Pat Clancy

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