From: sonic@cray.com (Curtis L. Swanson)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Intelligence
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:22:11 GMT
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.


GMS writes:

~In article <1992Oct9.185514.13927@walter.cray.com> sonic@bearpit.cray.com (Curtis Swanson) writes:
~>Granted, these are possible explanations for such behavior (BTW, whats' a
~>severed corpus callosum and how does it relate schizophrenia and/or multiple
~>personalities?) but I prefer to go under the assumption that Scott (whoever)
~
~Certain types of seizures were thought to be caused by a communication
~problem between the two lobes of the brain.  Some patients underwent
~a surgical procedure that involved severing the corpus callosum.  Surprisingly,
~these patients appeared completely unchanged except for the elimination of
~the seizures.  
~
~As a side note, I had assumed that knowledge of this procedure was more
~common, especially on a newsgroup with so many people professing to know
~about intelligence and "how the brain works" and those those who claim
~to "study the brain scientifically", but that's quite an assumption
~on my part.  Especially for a large group.  For anyone that cares, the
~corpus callosum is a big bunch of nerve fibers around the hippocampus
~and therabouts that enables the two sides of the brain to communicate
~with each other.  Now that I've informed anyone who's interested, and
~probably insulted anyone who's not, I'll get back to something I think is
~very important and surprising.

Please excuse my ignorance; intelligence is a subject to which I have 
studied only anecdotally.  Thus, I lack quite a bit of terminology and
other information while having some knowledge/theories about the subject.
To prove the point, I assume the above description refers to a lobotomy.

[Very interesting information about perception and memory studies
 deleted]

~I wonder how much of our lives and how many of our perceptions are
~just convenient rationalizations to reconcile our secure, conservative
~images of ourselves in our left brain, while the right brain or the
~reflexes of the rest of the body just go on their merry way, with the
~"individual" along for the ride, convincing itself that it knows what
~can, should, and will be done, and that it will do it. 

Quite a lot, I would guess.  I spent a lot of time and anguish examining
my likes/dislikes and beliefs/disbeliefs recently to relearn who I was
and WHY I was me.  It took a huge amount of effort to do.  Most people
don't want to challenge their beliefs like that - so much easier to not
challenge them.

~When we react to a feeling or a suspicion, we MUST recognize BOTH
~its VALUE and its DANGER.  Hate and fear and bigotry are not usually
~the outgrowth of logic.  They are outgrowths of our subsystems reacting
~to perceived threats and learned biases.  We cannot ignore these emotions.
~But we cannot, we MUST NOT allow them to control our thought processes
~without proper analysis.  For that, we must be aware that they are
~merely another in the wonderful set of tools we have been blessed with
~that can cause inefficiency, strife, damage, sadness, and fear, or
~they can be used to let us create, support, understand, achieve and
~enjoy.

~GMS

Well said.  BTW, can you cite any books that could give me a more complete
background on intelligence?  I hate to be ignorant during a good 
conversation.

***  Curt Swanson  ***  sonic@romulus.cray.com  ***  IOTTMCO  *********
HOME:n - That mythical place where you can go and relax.......
I'd rather be in a coma.........
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa