Reith Lectures 2003: The Emerging Mind (MLP)

In 1922, a young Scottish engineer called John Reith was appointed
General Manager of a fledgling national broadcasting service, known
at the time as the British Broadcasting Company. With little
experience and without any established purpose to guide him, Reith
shaped the growing institution according to his vision of what a
public service broadcaster should be. Reith defined the BBC's role
as "to bring the best of everything to the greatest number of homes".
He maintained that it was the duty of a national broadcaster to make
an intellectual contribution to public life.

According to his principles and in honour of his work, the BBC
inaugurated the Reith Lectures in 1948. Every year a leading figure
is invited to deliver a series of public lectures informed by their
particular field of expertise. The purpose of the lectures is "to
advance public understanding and debate about significant issues of
contemporary interest". The first Reith Lectures were given by
Bertrand Russell and notable contributors have consented to
participate ever since. Former Reith Lecturers include Robert
Oppenheimer, JK Galbraith, John Searle, Steve Jones and Edward Said.

This year's Reith Lecturer was Professor Vilayanur Ramachandran,
Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognition and professor with the
Psychology Department and the Neurosciences Programme at the
University of California, San Diego.

Professor Ramachandran's approach to neuroscience is guided by the
principle that the examination of unusual and rare neurological
disorders can yield fresh insights into the mechanisms of the normal
brain. Many of the disorders he investigates have been known to
medicine for some time, neglected as borderline cases or mere
curiosities until now. In a series of lectures entitled The Emerging
Mind, Professor Ramachandran takes the listener on a tour of unusual
psychological phenomena and, through an examination of the associated
neurology, arrives at some startling conclusions about the human
brain. He goes on to consider the possible implications of these
conclusions for subjects as varied as consciousness, identity, free
will, religion, aesthetics, art and the origins of language.
There are five lectures in total. Each lecture was delivered at a
different location and was followed by a short question and answer
session. Both the lectures and the discussions can be read in
transcript form or listened to as a RealAudio stream. If you have no
objection to RealPlayer, I would recommend listening to the audio
stream. The total running time of each lecture (including the
discussion that follows) is approximately 40 minutes.

Lecture 1: Phantoms in the Brain

Scientists need no longer be afraid to ask the big questions about
what it means to be human with empirical evidence now answering
ancient philosophical questions about meaning and existence.

Professor Ramachandran shows how phenomena such as Capgras' delusion
illuminate fundamental aspects of our minds such as body image,
emotions and the evolution of humor.

Lecture 2: Synapses and the Self

How does the activity of the 100 billion little wisps of protoplasm -
the neurons in your brain - give rise to all the richness of our
conscious experience, including the "redness" of red, the painfulness
of pain or the exquisite flavour of Marmite or Vindaloo?

Lecture 3: The Artful Brain

Professor Ramachandran draws on neurological case studies and work
from ethology (animal behavior) to present a new framework for
understanding how the brain creates and responds to art. He will use
examples mainly from Indian art and Cubism to illustrate these ideas.

Lecture 4: Purple Numbers and Sharp Cheese

Professor Ramachandran demonstrates experimentally that the
phenomenon of synesthaesia is a genuine sensory effect. For example,
some subjects literally "see" red every time they see the number 5 or
green when they see 2.

Lecture 5: Neuroscience - the New Philosophy

Professor Ramachandran argues that neuroscience, perhaps more than
any other discipline, is capable of transforming man's understanding
of himself and his place in the cosmos.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/lectures.shtml