Mind and Dine

Both Jill Bolte Taylor and Noah Charney have different ways of thinking about the brain. Charney’s insight came from observing others while Taylor's ideas came solely from her own experience. If the two were to have dinner together most likely, the brain and human mentality would be the main topic. Noah Charney would speak about bottom up vs top down thinking and which situations we are most likely to use each. He would also speak about how, because we are used to having a reason or explanation for everything, thinking in a different manner is generally complicated for us. Taylor would speak about the difference between the left and right sides of the brain. When she was met with a stroke in 1996 she was fully exposed to the right side of her brain- a side she was not used to using on its own. The two have talked about different situations but I believe when coming together, they would definitely find similarities between each other. For example, Charney wrote about how although abstract art is simplified, it’s harder for us to understand. Taylor spoke about the struggles that came with only being able to access the right side of her brain, the side that focuses more on feeling than intelligence. In a way, the right side of the brain could be seen as the more simple side and compared with bottom up thinking. In the end, they would both walk away with useful information and maybe even a new perspective on certain things.