How do we read others minds?

[Lilou]

Rebecca Saxe from MIT giving a short talk about how we think about other people's thoughts and which region of the brain is involved in the process. The Right Temporal Parietal Junction is a small area, above and behind the right ear. Its only task is to think about other people's thoughts. Very interesting stuff! It apparently is of great interest to the Pentagon too, but Rebecca says she won't take their calls.

http://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_saxe_how_brains_make_moral_judgments.html

 

[adam7117]

Very interesting... another "brilliant" idea from MIT. Rather creepy, too. The only thing I can read from the final results is that pulsed magnetic fields have a detrimental effect on human ethical judgement. Actions would be sure to follow under suitable circumstances, would they not?

Curious what others think about all this.

It apparently is of great interest to the Pentagon too, but Rebecca says she won't take their calls.

One has to wonder to what extent this has already been used for more nefarious purposes. I would doubt that Rebecca is leading the way in this field - more likely she is re-discovering something that is already well known elsewhere. Or, perhaps, somebody at MIT "helpfully" suggested this area of research to her - only to pour funds into it and feed the results to others with less idealistic inclinations. But isn't that typically the case in today's scientific world?

Very good questions at the end.

 

[ajseph 21]

The pulsed magnetic fields makes me think of how things like haarp are used on the population along with just basic technology like phones, tvs etc. These things could be unconsciously skewing our decisions at every moment. And then there's the implications of intentions vs. results and how blame is given, but what happens when someone lies about their intentions? Alot to think about good talk!

 

[PerihelionX]

During meditation recently I've been feeling a warm pressure on my throat (I have hypothyroidism) and in the back right inside part of my head. During the meditation this warm pressure felt positive as if it were in someway related to healing. It's interesting that this area might be related to moral judgments AND be damaged by modern technology. Anyone else have any experience like this during meditation?