Michael S. Gazzaniga
Author of Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain
About the Author
Michael S. Gazzaniga, one of the premiere doctors of neuroscience, was born on December 12, 1939 in Los Angeles. Educated at Dartmouth College and California Institute of Technology, he has been on the faculty of the Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis. His early research show more examined the subject of epileptics who had undergone surgery to control seizures. He has also studied Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients and reveals important findings in books such as Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind. While many of his writings are technical, he also educates and stimulates readers with discussions about the fascinating and mysterious workings of the brain. Books such as The Social Brain and The Mind's Past bring forth new information and theories regarding how the brain functions, interacts, and responds with the body and the environment. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Michael S. Gazzaniga
The Consciousness Instinct: Unraveling the Mystery of How the Brain Makes the Mind (2018) 177 copies, 2 reviews
Nature's Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, and Intelligence (1992) 95 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Gazzaniga, Michael S.
- Legal name
- Gazzaniga, Michael S.
- Birthdate
- 1939-12-12
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Dartmouth College
California Institute of Technology (PhD|1964) - Occupations
- professor (Psychology, University of California - Santa Barbara)
lecturer
director (Law and Neuroscience Project) - Organizations
- President's Council on Bioethics
- Relationships
- LeDoux, Joseph (student)
- Short biography
- Michael Gazzaniga is a Professor of Psychology and the Director for the SAGE Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California Santa Barbara. He oversees an extensive and broad research program investigating how the brain enables the mind. Over the course of several decades, a major focus of his research has been an extensive study of patients that have undergone split-brain surgery that have revealed lateralization of functions across the cerebral hemispheres.
In addition to his position in Santa Barbara, Professor Gazzaniga is also the Director of the Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, and President of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute.
http://people.psych.ucsb.edu/gazzanig... - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Santa Barbara, California, USA
- Map Location
- USA
Members
Reviews
Who's in Charge?: The Neuroscience of Decision-Making, the Notion of Free Will and the Idea of a Determined World by Michael S. Gazzaniga
There are tons of books covering aspects of neuroscience and neuro-behavior, but none that I have read, come close to this one.
Gazzaniga unravels the science of mind and brain to unlock mysteries of what really causes us to react or act the way we do and whether we are truly in control. Tapping into experiments and experiences of other scientists as well as from his own research, Gazzaniga digs through the inner workings of our minds, asks the right questions and puts forth answers that are show more truly enlightening, all with a sense of humor and keeping in mind a non-scientific reader.
He raises one of the most fundamental questions that usually goes un-asked - "what do we really want to be free of when we talk of 'freewill'?", and that alone is a whole big point to ponder over for weeks and months. [My guess and answer to that would be - Humans have no problems being governed by the will of their own emotions and moral standards of the society, but are averse to the idea of their lives being governed by a supernatural entity and always seem eager to distant themselves with the notion that they have no 'freewill' because their god didn't give it to them.]
The book is beautifully written with simple examples and insights that really make you think on the subject. However, I did find the book to have ended abruptly and was left without a clear sense of closure on the subject. show less
Gazzaniga unravels the science of mind and brain to unlock mysteries of what really causes us to react or act the way we do and whether we are truly in control. Tapping into experiments and experiences of other scientists as well as from his own research, Gazzaniga digs through the inner workings of our minds, asks the right questions and puts forth answers that are show more truly enlightening, all with a sense of humor and keeping in mind a non-scientific reader.
He raises one of the most fundamental questions that usually goes un-asked - "what do we really want to be free of when we talk of 'freewill'?", and that alone is a whole big point to ponder over for weeks and months. [My guess and answer to that would be - Humans have no problems being governed by the will of their own emotions and moral standards of the society, but are averse to the idea of their lives being governed by a supernatural entity and always seem eager to distant themselves with the notion that they have no 'freewill' because their god didn't give it to them.]
The book is beautifully written with simple examples and insights that really make you think on the subject. However, I did find the book to have ended abruptly and was left without a clear sense of closure on the subject. show less
Nature's Mind: Biological Roots Of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, And Intelligence by Michael S. Gazzaniga
I enjoyed Gazzaniga's clear and concise prose. The beginning chapters had me really rooting for selectionist theory. It seems to explain finally how there can exist so much apparent diversity among natural organisms, yet also universal trends which underlie that diversity. I wanted Gazzaniga to convince me. He does fairly well at explaining how processes at a micro level are guided by selectionism, but the evidence and the explanations he proffers become more and more superficial as the show more phenomena grow in complexity - which is not all his fault. The research might have been lacking. The only reason the lack of investigative support finally compelled me to knock off two stars is how he nonetheless tries to slip extremely bold claims under the radar with little to no backup. For instance he denigrates the right hemisphere of the brain, going so far as to suggest it has less functional capability than a primate's, with scant experimental findings. The experiments concerning brain lateralization to which he does allude do not conclusively prove anything that he seems to think they prove, which suggests to the reader that he is extrapolating from the findings with strong preconceptions. Makes one wonder what other research he 'colored in' with his own mental taint. I appreciate finding out about selectionism from Nature's Mind, but would recommend going elsewhere for information about it. show less
A masterclass in how to drown what ought to be a fascinating topic in an ocean of self-conscious name-dropping, unfunny anecdotes that suggest a sense of humour that hasn't developed since undergraduate days, and a generally limp and dreary written style that recalls the 'Dear Diary' side of blogging. It doesn't seem to have occurred to the author that others may not be as interested in him as he is himself. He may be brilliant at something, but it isn't writing, and whlle there may be some show more science in here I've abandoned any further experiment designed to locate it. show less
About half the book is a capsule review of the state of consciousness research presented in more detail in other books (like 'The Consciousness Instinct') which serves as the background for the main thrust of the book which is the judicial and ethical fallout of the conclusion that humans aren't actually 'steering the ship', in the way it is normally assumed. The most extreme form of this argument, that essentially argues that all retributive justice is meaningless and punishment in general show more serves no purpose, most notably propagated by Sam Harris, is thankfully not the natural conclusion of the book, but rather just presented as a possible option among many.
He did not explore in depth what seemed like an obvious followup to the "people who are told free will does not exist will cheat more" experiments; even if the premise of moral inculpability is true, trying to spread this knowledge or build a justice system based on the proposed conclusions, could have far worse effects. Which kicks the dilemma back to philosophy and asking if we're primarily utilitarians caring about outcomes or if the Truth should be the foremost goal. show less
He did not explore in depth what seemed like an obvious followup to the "people who are told free will does not exist will cheat more" experiments; even if the premise of moral inculpability is true, trying to spread this knowledge or build a justice system based on the proposed conclusions, could have far worse effects. Which kicks the dilemma back to philosophy and asking if we're primarily utilitarians caring about outcomes or if the Truth should be the foremost goal. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 41
- Members
- 2,852
- Popularity
- #8,995
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 35
- ISBNs
- 190
- Languages
- 12
- Favorited
- 1
