The Animators of Life. Portrait of Life. The Inner Life of the Cell. Powering the Cell. From DNA to Protein. This Is Your Brain. The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless. Despite rumors to the contrary, there are many ways in which the human brain isn’t all that fancy. Let’s compare it to the nervous system of a fruit fly. Both are made up of cells, of course, with neurons playing particularly important roles. Now one might expect that a neuron from a human will differ dramatically from one from a fly. We study hard to get admitted to a top college to get a good job to get into the nursing home of our choice. But no. Erin Schell Neuroscientists understand the structural bases of some of these qualities. There’s another domain of unique human skills, and neuroscientists are learning a bit about how the brain pulls it off.
Consider the following from J. Anxiety is secretive. Or: Compassion speaks with a slight accent. What is Gendler going on about? Symbols, metaphors, analogies, parables, synecdoche, figures of speech: we understand them. The Beautiful Mind.