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Quote by Iain McGilchrist

“The left hemisphere prefers the impersonal to the personal, and that tendency would be in any case be instantiated in the fabric of a technologically driven and bureaucratically administered society. The impersonal would come to replace the personal. There would be a focus on material things at the expense of the living. Social cohesion, and the bonds between person and person, and just as importantly between person and place, the context in which each person belongs, would be neglected, perhaps actively disrupted, as both inconvenient and incomprehensible to the left hemisphere acting on its own. There would be a depersonalisation of the relationships between members of society, and in society’s relationship with its members. Exploitation rather than co-operation would be, explicitly or not, the default relationship between human individuals, and between humanity and the rest of the world. Resentment would lead to an emphasis on uniformity and equality, not as just one desirable to be balanced with others, but as the ultimate desirable, transcending all others. As a result individualities would be ironed out and identification would be by categories: socioeconomic groups, races, sexes, and so on, which would also feel themselves to be implicitly or explicitly in competition with, resentful of, one another. Paranoia and lack of trust would come to be the pervading stance within society both between individuals, and between such groups, and would be the stance of government towards its people.”

Quote by Iain McGilchrist

Work

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

This book delves into the concept of the divided brain, examining how the distinct functions of the left and right hemispheres have shaped Western philosophy, science, and society. more

Author

Iain McGilchrist
Iain McGilchrist

Iain McGilchrist is a writer known for his exploration of the functional differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and their profound impact on human cognition and culture. more

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