ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates what a mature discussion about the social and political relevance of neuroscience might look like. The discussion and reflections feature an inquiry into a singularly profound, complex and fascinating thesis about the relationship between our brains and the world. Birds and animals all have divided brains, and regularly use one hemisphere for vigilant attention to the world at large, including to bond with their mates, and other for the narrow attention that enables them to lock onto whatever it is they need to get. When individuals are asked to complete self-rating scores with one hemisphere isolated at a time, and these are compared with scores completed by their acquaintances, the left hemisphere reveals itself to have an unwarrantedly high opinion of itself compared with the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere’s purpose is to use the world. It sees everything—education, art, morality, the natural world—in terms of a utilitarian calculus only.
