2 The Meaning of Understanding
29
logic plays little role in the thought processes of many, who rely on a more
intuitive approach to their decision making. It has become customary to
designate individuals as either “left-brained” or “right-brained”, depending on
whether they are analytical thinkers or intuitive. The differentiation is based
on the fact that logical reasoning, along with language, seems to take place
in the left cerebral hemisphere, while more holistic activities—art, music,
etc.—take place in the right hemisphere.
This was always a doubtful distinction, as many people combine artistic
and scientific aptitudes, and intuition—the sudden blinding flash of inspiration coming apparently from nowhere—is a valuable component of the
scientific creative process (see Appendix 2.1). The story of Archimedes
jumping up and racing naked down the street shouting “Eureka”, after the
idea for his famous Principle of Buoyancy occurred to him in his bathtub,
is part of the folklore of science. Most research scientists have had their
own Eureka moments, sometimes in a dream. For example, the German
organic chemist, Friedrich August Kekulé (1829–1896), recounted that he
had discovered the ring (or ouroboros 3 ) shape of the benzene molecule during
a day dream.
Returning to our point above, we query whether the bottom-up approach
of logic is the only worthwhile path to the understanding of the workings
of nature. In everyday life we have no difficulty in recognising a photograph
of a friend. However, an ordinary computer, which can perform arithmetical
calculations at a speed millions of times faster than a human, has difficulty
carrying out this simple operation, which even an infant can readily achieve.
The reason lies in the complexity of our brain, which comprises billions of
cells interconnected in a vast “neural network”. Many processing operations
take place in parallel, unlike the sequential processing of a normal computer.
To reduce the facial recognition task into a series of steps for a computer to
carry out sequentially is fraught with difficulties.
Most of the brain’s parallel processing appears to take place subliminally,
without any direction from the consciousness of its owner. From time to time
this “subconscious” network throws the results of its cogitations up into the
conscious component of our mind, and so we have Archimedes jumping out
of his bath and shouting “Eureka”, or a crossword enthusiast searching for
yesterday’s newspaper to fill in the answer to a clue that she had spent hours
on, before giving up in frustration.
3 An ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, often used in pop culture, e.g. for tattoos. It can
be interpreted as a symbol for cyclic renewal, or an unending cycle of life, death, and rebirth. We
encounter this symbol several times in this book.
29
logic plays little role in the thought processes of many, who rely on a more
intuitive approach to their decision making. It has become customary to
designate individuals as either “left-brained” or “right-brained”, depending on
whether they are analytical thinkers or intuitive. The differentiation is based
on the fact that logical reasoning, along with language, seems to take place
in the left cerebral hemisphere, while more holistic activities—art, music,
etc.—take place in the right hemisphere.
This was always a doubtful distinction, as many people combine artistic
and scientific aptitudes, and intuition—the sudden blinding flash of inspiration coming apparently from nowhere—is a valuable component of the
scientific creative process (see Appendix 2.1). The story of Archimedes
jumping up and racing naked down the street shouting “Eureka”, after the
idea for his famous Principle of Buoyancy occurred to him in his bathtub,
is part of the folklore of science. Most research scientists have had their
own Eureka moments, sometimes in a dream. For example, the German
organic chemist, Friedrich August Kekulé (1829–1896), recounted that he
had discovered the ring (or ouroboros 3 ) shape of the benzene molecule during
a day dream.
Returning to our point above, we query whether the bottom-up approach
of logic is the only worthwhile path to the understanding of the workings
of nature. In everyday life we have no difficulty in recognising a photograph
of a friend. However, an ordinary computer, which can perform arithmetical
calculations at a speed millions of times faster than a human, has difficulty
carrying out this simple operation, which even an infant can readily achieve.
The reason lies in the complexity of our brain, which comprises billions of
cells interconnected in a vast “neural network”. Many processing operations
take place in parallel, unlike the sequential processing of a normal computer.
To reduce the facial recognition task into a series of steps for a computer to
carry out sequentially is fraught with difficulties.
Most of the brain’s parallel processing appears to take place subliminally,
without any direction from the consciousness of its owner. From time to time
this “subconscious” network throws the results of its cogitations up into the
conscious component of our mind, and so we have Archimedes jumping out
of his bath and shouting “Eureka”, or a crossword enthusiast searching for
yesterday’s newspaper to fill in the answer to a clue that she had spent hours
on, before giving up in frustration.
3 An ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, often used in pop culture, e.g. for tattoos. It can
be interpreted as a symbol for cyclic renewal, or an unending cycle of life, death, and rebirth. We
encounter this symbol several times in this book.