Art + Neuroscience
This week we started with some of the most basic human curiosities. The human consciousness has drew the attention of the most brilliant minds through out history, and still, many of our questions surrounding the mind go unanswered. Ramon Y Cajal, a psychologists know for his work creating the foundation of neurosciences, was given a Nobel Peace prize for his research of the brains structure as well as neuron theories. Only by his work with the structure and components of the brain science has been able to make huge strides in understanding how the brain works and a magnitude of different was in which we can utilize the vast capacity of our minds. An individuals consciousness, thought and imaginations have incredible depth and possibilities. The human race has yet to fully grasp or harness the potential with our own minds. One attempt to reach that potential comes in the form of chemical reactions in the brain and hallucinogenic drugs, specifically LSD. Albert Hofman created LSD as a psychiatric treatment in hope that it could be used as a cure all, when he was surprised to find the side effects included powerful hallucinations. Timothy Leary also worked with LSD and conducted testing on his personal use. While much of his worked was frowned upon by society, a studied showed remarkable traction as a tool to help alcoholics break their habit more effectively than any other treatment method. While LSD is now illegal, the use of chemical and neuron reactions opens the door to countless other questions and future research about the nature of these hallucinations. If we were to discover a means to control the total power of the mind the possibilities would be endless.
References
Anker, S. & Frazzetto, G. Neuroculture, an exhibition at the Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT US. Neuroculture [online], (2006).
Dumit, J. Picturing Personhood. Brain Scans and Biomedical Identity (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2004).
Freeman, Shanna. "How LSD Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.
"The Effects of Hallucinogenic Drugs on The Brain." SerenDip Studio. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.
"Timothy Leary." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.
Interesting point about how little we actually understand about the mind. I like how objective you were when talking about Thomas Leary and others of his time who experimented with LSD. They were definitely frowned upon, but they performed the tests that everyone else was afraid to do.
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