The Tell-Tale Brain

“We are truly new under the sun, with unchartered and perhaps limitless potential. We are the first and only species whose fate has rested in its own hands, and not just in the hands of chemistry and instinct.”

In this passage, Ramachandran states one of the central themes of his book: The Nature of Human Uniqueness. Humans are unique compared with apes. Ramachandran believes that the human brain represents one of the biggest upheavals on Earth since the origin of life. Humans have been able to accomplish many more things than other species, such as writing, self-reflection, going to the moon, and more, due to the human brain. This theme is still controversial among researchers today.

“Cases of prefrontal damage are especially distressing to relatives. Such a patient seems to lose all interest in his own future and he shows no moral compunctions of any kind. He may laugh at a funeral or urinate in public. The great paradox is that he seems normal in most respects: his language, his memory, and even his IQ are unaffected.”

In the Introduction, Ramachandran highlights his approach to neuroscience, in particular his interest in The Impact of Neurological Disorders. He studies patients with damage to a single structure of the human brain that causes them to have unique and sometimes bizarre experiences. In the passage above, Ramachandran describes how damage to the left prefrontal lobe causes a person to lose the quintessential attributes that define them as human, including empathy, ambition, and a sense of dignity. Nothing else changes about the person. Neural disorders help researchers, like Ramachandran, understand the origin, function, and structures of normal, healthy brains.