brain plasticity: scientist awards (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, June 04, 2016, 14:57 (3095 days ago) @ dhw

David's comment: The bolded comment is the key point. Our personalities develop on a continuum, while the working brain adapts to our needs in functional areas. We 'r us, not what the brain makes us.
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> dhw: I'm not at all sure that our personality and behaviours remain fixed. Experience can change people quite drastically. And of course we all know that drugs and diseases can affect the brain and thereby change both personality and behaviour. But under normal circumstances, I also feel that I am “me” and not what my brain makes “me”, and that “I” use my brain and am not used by it. We have already had several discussions about the problem of identity: just what does this “I/me” consist of? We can see the influences of nature, nurture, heredity, experience, cells etc., but ultimately, I think it boils down to materialism versus dualism. Another endlessly fascinating question, but unless there is an afterlife, I fear we shall never know the answer!-No, we won't until/if the afterlife, but the key thought still remains, we are allowed to make what our brain becomes in structure and connections.