There was an uncritical discussion of empathy and mirror neuron "science" today on Radio National (gag, cough). It was taken from the "Happiness and Its Causes Conference". It featured not only one of those terribly romantic Italian mirror neuron researchers (retch, gag), he was also discussing stuff with the Dalai lama (groan, guffaw). To add an Australian flavour of questionable science to the mix, Professor Patrick McGorry (sneer)had a seat at these discussions. McGorry has been the subject of some critical recent posts at this blog and also at my other blog Blond Ambition, and who has the habit of forgetting to declare many commerical conflicting interests. I've got to give the Dalai lama the credit for pointing out a stark fact that can't be reconciled with the popular simple theories about empathy and mirror neurons - the existence of schadenfreude. I should also point out that it is worth listening to this program just to hear the Dalai lama laughing like Ernie in Sesame Steet.
I feel so sorry for the poor sucker at Radio National whose job it is to write out a transcript of whatever it is that the Dalai Lama was rambling on about. Will his words make any more sense in print? One can only hope.
Oh, and next week apparently this radio show, All in the Mind, will be featuring a particular focus on discussion between the Dalai lama and Prof. Patrick McGorry. I'll be sure to have my spew bucket and my No-Doz tablets on hand. "Mental illness is reportedly on the rise in young people. Why?" Because Eli Lilly says so, stupid.
Dialogue with the Dalai Lama - Part 2 - Mirror neurons, our intersubjective minds & the limits of compassion.
All in the Mind.
ABC Radio National 810am
broadcast July 2nd 2011
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2011/3249451.htm
Dialogue with the Dalai Lama - Part 3 - Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry.
All in the Mind.
ABC Radio National 810am
broadcast July 9th 2011
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2011/3249471.htm
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3 comments:
Congratulations to anyone who listened for the whole show . Perhaps it is my auditory processing problem with "foreign voices"...(I often hear by reading lips), but I could hardly understand anything being said .
When reading/listening to some of the current "experts" on empathy, the over riding reaccurant thought I have is ...."What world do you people live in that you actually believe that NT's have empathy" . Honestly, it's a bit like listening to fashion "experts" go on and on about the emperors new clothes when I can clearly see that bastards naked .
"Honestly, it's a bit like listening to fashion "experts" go on and on about the emperors new clothes when I can clearly see that bastards naked."
Haha!
I also found it hard to pull meaning out of the discussion by Prof. Iacoboni, I think because he didn't say much that wasn't very predictable. I did detect a vague mood of criticism of the type of ideas that are popularly associated with Richard Dawkins and the neo-Darwinists - the popular misunderstanding of the idea of "the selfish gene" that jumps to the assumption that Dawkins' and Darwin's theories about natural selection are incompatible with cooperative behaviour. A lot of people are profoundly disturbed by the idea of natural selection and evolution, so I think the professor's ideas, which appear to be refuting such notions, will have a lot of appeal among certain groups of people.
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