I appreciated the brief but detailed list of ways people use anonymity to 'unload' their problems.
-
I "met" someone on YouTube that did this heavily - even though her face was unobscured in the frame (only her name was hidden). When she realized that people would recognize her someday -- she vanished, along with her stories. Now I carry some of this dead load. Oh Well.

As if the only issue about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn story is his marital infidelity! Can't quite believe Mr. Lopate let that pass.

I wonder how closely the political analogy works in the other direction. Is there a way a population can become predominantly more mentally healthy & cause a country to make better choices?

Hmm...are there parts of the brain that don't "vote," corresponding to the large percentages of many human populations who don't vote in elections?

I have had two concussions, each with a very brief span of unconsciousness. The first time(age 14) I could not keep the formulas on my geometry mid-term still on the page. They kept getting bigger and bigger and disappearing behind my eyes, or getting smaller and smaller and disappearing into the page. The second one caused me to have increasingly less frequent, but quite jarring, separations between my sight and perception, usually triggered by movement. I would see everything in front of me, but recognize nothing: shape, color, what particular things were. Any insights?

And if your name is Gene you are more likely to have an extra chromosome

So I guess we're doomed.

Is your guest familiar with the book "the hidden brain" by Shankar Vendentam and the role the unconscious plays in our prejudices and value systems?

Richard Dawkins talks about this thin strip in "Unweaving the Rainbow"

What about when you're in a really boring situation and time seems to drag on. Is the brain processing the experience the same way?

has it occurred to me that there might be a big difference between the reality we make up as we see, and the one of the things we're looking at that is independent of what we see?

There are protocols for looking closer and closer that reveal some of it, if you're interested. synapse9.com

I've heard several interviews with the guest (with Terry Gross and a segment with Robert Kurlich--sp?). I really hope some other aspects of this topic are explored--because Mr. Eagleman sites the same stories and anecdotes.