Right hemisphere of the brain (and Discrimination)

[benhur]

As you may know, left hemisphere of the brain is associated with logic, math abilities etc, right with imagination, arts, and all that.

Some people feel there might be some kind of subtle discrimination against the latter. Think about it. A person who can't do math is considered stupid, but not the guy who can't write poetry. Even in normal conversations, we compare a brilliant person to Einstein (even when we're being sarcastic), not to Dickens or Picasso. It's almost as if intelligence is usually associated with left rather than with the right.

I am not sure if all this constitutes discrimination, but it's interesting all the same. Some people say it's because science, logic and other left-oriented stuff benefits all of humanity, and have an objective value. Right-oriented doesn't. If all works of art disappear tomorrow, life goes on. But if all works of science disappear, we'll go back to stone age. This is their argument as to why the world favors left over right.

While this may be true, people may still feel discriminated against, despite such valid claims. So the question is not whether it's right, but whether such attitude, especially in schools, can hurt young minds, so much so it might affect their lives later on, when they're adults.

Hope a nice discussion will flower out of this.

[RedAnarchist]

What if someone has a more balanced brain, rather than one which is dominated by one side?

[Dr Mindbender]

more to the point, if someone has a disproportionate leaning on one side of the brain can they be classified as non-neurotypical?

Perhaps this is what 'intelligence' really is which we mistake it for. Isaac Newton may have been excellent at mathematics but no doubt he was hopeless at poetry.

[benhur]

more to the point, if someone has a disproportionate leaning on one side of the brain can they be classified as non-neurotypical?

Perhaps this is what 'intelligence' really is which we mistake it for. Isaac Newton may have been excellent at mathematics but no doubt he was hopeless at poetry.

That's the whole point. Your poetic skills (or the lack) are never an issue, but your math disability, for one thing, could be a source of pain and embarrassment. Many people feel discriminated against, because they're constantly ridiculed by students, even teachers lose patience sometimes.:( All this could affect children.

[Dóchas]

duno about you guys but im stronger on my right side i suck at maths and languages but im pretty good at writing poetry and just using my imagination in general. i was just wondering is this genetic or its it the way you are brought up and in what environment you are brought up in?

[Module]

I think part of the issue is that art is something that everybody can enjoy just by looking at it/listening to it etc. whereas logic and mathematics is something a lot of people aren't actively interested in, because it doesn't give us immediate pleasure so we often don't care to think about it too deeply. Therefore those of us who do are the sort of rare 'geniuses' who do things that the 'common person' finds too tedious and too hard to figure out.
Notice that those who are stereotypical 'smart people' are those with an interest in science, rather than those with an interest in art.
One can appreciate and for the most part understand art just by observing the finished product. With things like science, it is the process that is key to understanding the product.
However, that's just one theory (I'm about to contradict myself).
I think it's probably a fairly recent development. I don't know too much about art history at all, I'm sorry to say, but I do know that art was far more appreciated until about 150 years ago (blind estimation) or so. The industrial revolution, the explosion of technological advancement gave scientists, mathematicians and engineers far greater relevance to modern cultural and social development. Their 'genius' became something more deserving of appreciation than artists. Feel free, people who know more about history than I do, to correct me.
I do think, however, that we still do remember people like Michelangelo, da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven etc. as 'geniuses', whilst their talents wouldn't have lay in either the left or right side specifically.
People with a balance of right and left influence in the brain I have heard before tend to be more 'intelligent', or at least more mentally stable and successful. I would also think that scientific discovery and problem solving needs a little right hemisphere creativity.


I think this thread would be more suitable in Science and Environment, but I won't move it unless somebody else agrees with me, first :)

[Dóchas]

^^^ thats a pretty good idea and it makes sense

[S.O.I]

i wouldnt make fun of picasso if he didnt know algebra

and many people with only right brains are discriminated too, theyre called "nerds" believe it or not... i think people with no brains at all are the ones who are not discriminated, because they are the ones discriminating and if they are discriminated they dont know they are beeing discriminated

[Jazzratt]

I think this thread would be more suitable in Science and Environment, but I won't move it unless somebody else agrees with me, first :)

I agree.

I would argue that, in the day to day, it's highly left-dominants that get all the stick, they are less interact emotionally and generally don't share the social illusion and they suffer in the day to day. While it is nice we have heroes like Einstein, Archimedes and so on the world, generally, and the success in it seems slanted toward those capable of being highly creative; everyone else is a geeky loser. That's why younger people find role models in musicians and poets rather than engineers and scientists.