Incognito Review

Incognito: The Secret Life of the Brain by David Eagleman discusses more than just how our conscious thoughts work; it delves into our subconscious mind and its surprising processes.  In this book, Eagleman seems to at least partially back the reductionist theory – a philosophical position which states that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents.  The evidence that Eagleman brings up seems to advocate the idea that a person or a soul is not truly in control of his or her actions; instead, the chemical reactions and interactions within the neurocircuitry in our brains dictates who we are.  However, in the conclusion of the book, Eagleman ascertains that there is still much to be learned about the human brain and that examining and completely understanding our brains with our own brains is impossible, and that there are things about ourselves we may never know.

I believe that some of the evidence that Eagleman brought forward in this book is pretty interesting.  In one chapter, he mentions the condition spatial synesthesia.  People with spatial synesthesia see things in a different dimension than others.  For example, they can “see” Thursday or point to the number 99.  While I would imagine this to be an unrealistic nuisance to live with, people with this condition can’t imagine living without it.  Eaglman then draws the analogy of a color blind person asking someone with typical sight if it bothers them being able to see colors all of the time.  What he poses about reality being subjective opened my mind to the world around me.  While I know that it is best to be reasonable and live my life based on what I perceive, this evidence makes me wonder if there truly is an objective reality.

While Eagleman brings up some interesting evidence, I do not always agree with the way he interprets it.  For example, in one chapter, he brings up certain cases, such as the University of Texas shooting, where people who have committed a crime actually did so because of neurological damage such as a brain tumor.  Eagleman then goes on to say that it can be possible that people who commit crimes may do so based on the way their brain is wired, and we have no way of knowing it because the brain defect is so small that we cannot detect it.  Therefore, he proposes that eventually we should rehabilitate criminals based on the state of their brain and their mental health instead of sentencing them to prison.  While I think this is an interesting idea that can benefit a lot of people, I do not think this is a feasible possibility in the near future.  It would be an expensive feat that would require a lot of time and energy, and we would also have to change the entire criminal justice system.  I do agree that this idea is interesting and could be beneficial, but it would take a lot of debate and changes to put it into motion – something I don’t think will happen any time soon.

In all, I think that Incognito was interesting and helped put me in a TOK mindset.  It would get slow at times, but there was a lot of interesting information on how our minds work.  However, I know that many people do not like the idea that we are just a sum of chemical reactions in our brain.  While there is decent evidence for this argument, most people, including myself, don’t want to believe it.  Either way, Eagleman does an effective job at making you think.  While the book was thought provoking, I only think that I would recommend it to a friend if he was really interested in this topic.

The Colbert Report
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Eagleman and Stephen Colbert discuss Incognito, Pink Floyd, and Inception.