The road to human progress passes through the Corpus Callosum, Carl Sagan tells us towards the end of The Dragons of Eden. Corpus Callosum is the main pathway connecting the two hemispheres of the brain. What he means is an equal emphasis on left hemisphere analytic functions and right hemisphere holistic functions to explore the world and move ahead.
The main topic the book deals with is how the human intelligence might have evolved. Also touches on the anatomy of brain, the evolution from Australopithecines to Homo Sapiens, the nature of sleep and dream (this part was really interesting) and how the brain might evolve in the future (possibly as a combination of machine and human intelligence). Sagan is as always wonderful with his prose. Interesting tidbits are scattered throughout (like our ears are crossed in the sense that signals from left ear are processed primarily in the right hemisphere and vice versa, but such is not the case with eyes or nostrils). But more importantly, he successfully imparts his enthusiasm along with the knowledge. And somewhere touches your heart. Finishing his books always feels like saying goodbye to a friend. Thank god there were and are people who are willing to make the world a little bit more understandable to others.
The main topic the book deals with is how the human intelligence might have evolved. Also touches on the anatomy of brain, the evolution from Australopithecines to Homo Sapiens, the nature of sleep and dream (this part was really interesting) and how the brain might evolve in the future (possibly as a combination of machine and human intelligence). Sagan is as always wonderful with his prose. Interesting tidbits are scattered throughout (like our ears are crossed in the sense that signals from left ear are processed primarily in the right hemisphere and vice versa, but such is not the case with eyes or nostrils). But more importantly, he successfully imparts his enthusiasm along with the knowledge. And somewhere touches your heart. Finishing his books always feels like saying goodbye to a friend. Thank god there were and are people who are willing to make the world a little bit more understandable to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment