A Brain Divided: Iain McGilchrist – Jordan B Peterson Podcast – S4 E21.
Running Time: 1:45:25
[2:00] Jordan asks Iain to outline his concept of attention that he outlines in his forthcoming book The Matter with Things
[14:30] Creating the world through attention. Examining studies done to understand what we would miss without the right hemisphere of our brain. Contrasting the known differences of the two brain hemispheres
[24:00] Discussion of the function of categories and the distinction we make that pull things out of those categories
[33:30] What holes, in reality, are your values or belief structures filling in enabling you to function in the world. looking at the importance of looking at things as a whole instead of a part of the whole.
[36:30] Iain talks about paradoxes in the lens of his new book and examines them. Iain denotes the importance of understanding the significance of the left or right hemisphere when looking at ideas, structures, or projects that have contributed to society.
[43:08] Jordan creates an analogy of tiers of resolution when we are living our lives and performing tasks. McGilchrist outlines his analogy of task attention the two hemispheres as a stage with a spotlight, the highlighted portion is the action of the left hemisphere while the whole stage is the collective consciousness of the right hemisphere.
[54:50] Important schools of thought that improve culture, Science, Reason, Intuition, and Imagination. Unpacking the idea of ontological primaries related to consciousness
[1:05:35] Iain recounts the public reaction to The Master and His Emissary
[1:07:30] Iain and Jordan debate about the nature of implicit values and the idea of God, or what we use the word God to describe
[1:15:00] The failing of the left hemisphere vision of the world according to McGilchrist
[1:20:00] debating the value of industrial rationalists that ignore the co-creation relationship of the divine
[1:23:30] Iain’s drive to write his books, the disconnect he sees with the rational, scientific construction of society leading to more unhappy people as society “improves” Iain’s three things all humans need to be happy are to feel socially connected, being in the presence of nature, and being part of a religious community.
[1:29:30] Discussing the need for science to be embedded in a larger value structure and not simply rational and removed from right brain thinking
[1:34:30] revisiting the co-creation idea of the cosmos, Iain relates his closing argument that science needs to bring back imagination and intuition as important aspects of exploration beyond the strictly rational.