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A review by atomic_tourist
A Thousand Brains by Jeff Hawkins
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Jeff Hawkins laid out some ideas that I thought were super interesting. I'm trying to get some neuro people *cough cough Oshani* to read A Thousand Brains to see if what he's saying has any merit. I really hope so, because the first two-thirds of this book impressed me and has, so to speak, changed my model of the world a little bit ;)
In the last third, Hawkins goes waaaaaay off track, talking about extraterrestrial life and asserting that faith in the afterlife is a "false belief," going so far as to list it alongside climate change denial as a threat to humanity. Such claims show a lack of understanding of humanity; every culture known to man, ever(!!) has had a religion. This is a fact that leads me to believe that religion is a necessary part of the human condition. Your own views on religion might change, but it is quite flippant to state, as Hawkins did, that the afterlife must be a false belief due to a lack of evidence. To be clear, Hawkins' anti-religion argument is confined to just a few pages, but I was disappointed that it made its way into a book that is otherwise full of compelling arguments.
(I am not claiming that heaven is "real" or that it is false. Just saying that the whole point is that no one knows and it's mighty bold of Hawkins to claim, without substantiation, that heaven is deffo not real.)
Another gripe: some of his other claims show a similar lack of social and historical analysis. For example, Hawkins asserts that humanity's intelligence is the reason our existence is threatened by a climate crisis. I actually think that this is a false belief. Any thorough understanding of climate change must involve an understanding of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. Without these forces, it is doubtful that we'd be experiencing climate change right now, seeing as there is a general consensus that climate change is related to processes that began during the Industrial Revolution. Intelligence is not the cause of the climate crisis, and saying so ignores the myriad cultures on this planet who are intelligent and would not have begat global warming on us.
Even with these flaws, Hawkins' writing was accessible and his thesis was original. I now have a deepened understanding of how my brain works, which is pretty neat. But also makes it tough to turn off that over-awareness that "I" am just a brain sitting in a dark skull. Help!!
In the last third, Hawkins goes waaaaaay off track, talking about extraterrestrial life and asserting that faith in the afterlife is a "false belief," going so far as to list it alongside climate change denial as a threat to humanity. Such claims show a lack of understanding of humanity; every culture known to man, ever(!!) has had a religion. This is a fact that leads me to believe that religion is a necessary part of the human condition. Your own views on religion might change, but it is quite flippant to state, as Hawkins did, that the afterlife must be a false belief due to a lack of evidence. To be clear, Hawkins' anti-religion argument is confined to just a few pages, but I was disappointed that it made its way into a book that is otherwise full of compelling arguments.
(I am not claiming that heaven is "real" or that it is false. Just saying that the whole point is that no one knows and it's mighty bold of Hawkins to claim, without substantiation, that heaven is deffo not real.)
Another gripe: some of his other claims show a similar lack of social and historical analysis. For example, Hawkins asserts that humanity's intelligence is the reason our existence is threatened by a climate crisis. I actually think that this is a false belief. Any thorough understanding of climate change must involve an understanding of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. Without these forces, it is doubtful that we'd be experiencing climate change right now, seeing as there is a general consensus that climate change is related to processes that began during the Industrial Revolution. Intelligence is not the cause of the climate crisis, and saying so ignores the myriad cultures on this planet who are intelligent and would not have begat global warming on us.
Even with these flaws, Hawkins' writing was accessible and his thesis was original. I now have a deepened understanding of how my brain works, which is pretty neat. But also makes it tough to turn off that over-awareness that "I" am just a brain sitting in a dark skull. Help!!