A lot of what you’re pointing at here reminds me of an idea I had for illustrating how the brain hemispheres work (based on Iain McGilchrist’s new model, not the old debunked models from the 60s). I had an image of a comic or something depicting the two hemispheres as hiking partners, the left hemisphere (LH) with its face buried in the map and the right hemisphere (RH) looking around at the territory. And there could be a series of short stories showing how if they’re not able to talk to each other they can get in various confusions, but how if they are able to coordinate effectively then the RH can help the LH update the map, and the LH’s map can help make sense of the fully-detailed reality of the territory.
“Pre-conceptual intimacy” seems to point very much at the RH’s way of attending to the world in general. A quote from a twitter thread of mine, paraphrasing McGilchrist: “whatever we experience comes to us first – it “presences” to us in unpreconceived freshness – in the RHem”
I’ve found understanding the nature of the brain hemispheres to be one of the most useful models I’ve taken in over the last few years, particularly for improving my relationship between map & territory and noticing how my attention affects what I experience. So I’d highly recommend it to you Logan and anyone who’s interested in these questions you’re exploring.
And there could be a series of short stories showing how if they’re not able to talk to each other they can get in various confusions, but how if they are able to coordinate effectively then the RH can help the LH update the map, and the LH’s map can help make sense of the fully-detailed reality of the territory.
It took me a bit to figure out the abbreviations. It would be helpful to introduce the abbreviation when you mention the left hemisphere and right hemisphere the first time for easier reading.
A lot of what you’re pointing at here reminds me of an idea I had for illustrating how the brain hemispheres work (based on Iain McGilchrist’s new model, not the old debunked models from the 60s). I had an image of a comic or something depicting the two hemispheres as hiking partners, the left hemisphere (LH) with its face buried in the map and the right hemisphere (RH) looking around at the territory. And there could be a series of short stories showing how if they’re not able to talk to each other they can get in various confusions, but how if they are able to coordinate effectively then the RH can help the LH update the map, and the LH’s map can help make sense of the fully-detailed reality of the territory.
“Pre-conceptual intimacy” seems to point very much at the RH’s way of attending to the world in general. A quote from a twitter thread of mine, paraphrasing McGilchrist: “whatever we experience comes to us first – it “presences” to us in unpreconceived freshness – in the RHem”
I’ve found understanding the nature of the brain hemispheres to be one of the most useful models I’ve taken in over the last few years, particularly for improving my relationship between map & territory and noticing how my attention affects what I experience. So I’d highly recommend it to you Logan and anyone who’s interested in these questions you’re exploring.
Ways Of Attending is a great short intro but costs $20 which is silly given that it’s basically a long essay, like 30 pages. I’ve written a thorough summary of it (about half the length of the whole book) in this twitter thread. (I’ve also written a bit about it in this LW comment about how people are confused when they’re saying “system 1” & “system 2″) Then there’s also The Master and his Emissary, his longer book with a couple thousand citations.
It took me a bit to figure out the abbreviations. It would be helpful to introduce the abbreviation when you mention the left hemisphere and right hemisphere the first time for easier reading.