Monday, October 3, 2016

Brain or Mind: Which Came First?

Recently a colleague and I were discussing the various theories about the brain versus the mind—and there are several. For example, which came first, the chicken or the egg—oops, I meant the brain or the mind? Does the brain create the mind or does the mind create the brain? Is the mind an organ of the brain much as the stomach is an organ of the digestive system? There will likely never be 100% consensus, seeing as every brain on the planet is different. For purposes of discussion, let’s say that the brain creates the mind; but then the mind can change the brain. I like the ‘vehicle-traffic metaphor’ to describe that phenomenon. Vehicles create traffic. Sometimes it’s worse than others. Once created, however, the vehicles can be hampered or impeded by the traffic. As luck would have it, that discussion veered off into the area of technology and the brain or the brain and technology. More tomorrow.

No comments: