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The Biological Mind

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The Biological Mind

How Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are

Basic Books,

15 min read
9 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

MIT’s Alan Jasanoff views brains for what they really are – gelatinous organs steeped in biological processes and influenced by environment.

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Editorial Rating

10

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

During the 1990s and early 2000s, popular media disseminated articles about brain science, often with brightly colored, sparkling, mystical illustrations of the brain. These articles seemed to intimate that the brain, with illumination from some internal iridescent glow, was magical, and somehow different from the rest of the human body. The impression: The brain is “what makes you, you.” MIT professor Alan Jasanoff takes brains off any mystical pedestals and presents them for what they really are – gelatinous organs steeped in “biological processes” and subject to environmental influences.

Summary

The brain is a biologically-based organ, but “the cerebral mystique” elevates it as the mythical source of human behavior and personality. 

Kim Suozzi was only 23 years old when she died of cancer, but an all-consuming quest marked her final lucid months. She and her boyfriend sought to raise $80,000 to preserve her brain in liquid nitrogen. They hoped that someday science could bring her back to life, either in physical or digital form.

The company Alcor Life Extension Foundation provides brain-preservation services. Suozzi’s actions reflect the current societal belief that “we are our brains.” The concepts that brains are of singular importance, and complex beyond our comprehension, form part of a contemporary cerebral mystique. Researchers have discovered patterns of brain activity that coincide with every mental function. But the cerebral mystique obscures perhaps the most basic finding of brain research: The human brain “is rooted in banal physiological processes, and subject to all the laws of nature.”

Most spiritual traditions subscribe to a mind-body dualism that distinguishes between the body and...

About the Author

Alan Jasanoff is professor of biological engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, and nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the director of the Center for Neurobiological Engineering and an associate investigator at the McGovern Institute.

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