final paper in emerging genres

The internet:

Reader/Writer Relationship

-It leaves lots of room for role-playing, re-construction, projection and misunderstanding. But I’m not quite clear, yet, just how you understand this process.

Commentary on The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D.

When the brain is exposed to different chemicals, its behavior and action can change. What comes to mind when one usually thinks of chemicals is alcohol and drugs. We all expect exogenous chemicals to cause a change in the brain. What we might not expect, is that simply thinking can change the bath of chemicals our brain is exposed to. In particular, thinking of God.

In a masterfully weaved tale, Jonah Lehrer discusses a variety of artistic masterpieces and the underlying neurobiology. Lehrer tells this story in hope that one day we will have what he dubs a 4th culture, where scientists and artists can talk and really understand and appreciate each other. In this short but sweet book, Lehrer discusses the artistic advances of eight different artists. Though they may have been viewed as eccentric or crazy in their own times, Lehrer discusses how their artistic insight pinpointed neurobiological facts that have later been uncovered.

The study of morality has historically been relegated to disciplines such as philosophy, history, and literature. However, emerging trends in research suggest that the field of neurobiology would be a valuable addition to this list. Neurobiology research may offer needed insights into the biological underpinnings of social cognition, and particularly of morality. Precisely because the study is firmly grounded in a wide spread philosophical tradition, discussions about the neurobiology of morality shed light on many other aspects of the interconnectedness between cultural knowledge and scientific knowledge.

One of thefirst things we read in this course was a poem on the brain by Emily Dickinson.Having always liked her works, I was pleased that she could be used not only indiscussions on literature and poetry, but also in relation toneuroscience.   However, afterhearing the content of her poem, my first thought was not on her stanzas, buton herself as a writer.  In mymind, I remember thinking, “But Emily Dickinson was crazy!” Yet, it was herethat I began to wonder if, maybe, her words maintained value (or were even more valuable!) because she was a littleloopy. 

I first discovered The Diving Bell andthe Butterfly when mentioned during the first weeks of classes.  Professor Grobstein spoke of the novel(which is now a movie as well) with a description of the situation andtechnique it was written under. This description immediately caught my attention, for the author,Jean-Dominque Bauby, wrote the novel using only his left eye.  Indeed, his left eye is the only bodypart Bauby can move and control. After suffering a stroke when he was forty-three years old, Bauby nowlives with “locked in syndrome.” As a result of his limite

            Love is a wonderful phenomenon that almost everyone can relate to despite the challenging, perhaps even impossible task of defining it or describing its many different interpretations and implications. Curiously, the multi-dimensional construct of love leaves many of us with pressing questions, one of which involves the obvious notion that love must somehow be influenced by internal mechanisms, but which ones and how? Logically, it has been stated that love functions biologically to ensure the survival of a species through social attachment and reproduction, so it is no surprise that science has found great interest in