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As an implicit test of your thesis that choice of written language representation determining dominant culture, one would expect there to be much less difference between the two kinds up to the point that a significant proportion of the population became literate. Given that illiteracy was the norm until relatively recent historic times when I think you could already see the distinct cultural patterns in east and west, I'm not sure it supports your contention.(Actually it's more complicated than that in that, from what little I understand, both the written representation and the kind of "deep language structure" -- in the Chomsky sense -- of the language, which apply even as spoken, differ. So you could argue the spoken forms might hugely affect brain processing, but I'm unconvinced.)
I'm naturally right handed and at twenty forced myself to learn to use the computer mouse and brush my teeth left-handed. (I type, write and sketch an awful lot and I was worried about carpal-tunnel type issues from doing everything with my dominant right hand.) Fifteen years later I can't say I've observed any particular increase in holistic thinking.
he is more self confident and natural, can learn interact better. I think this is a problem with left handers who are forced into right handdness, they don't fit and so are suppressed and become more neurotic their whole lives without knowing why to a certain extent, not developing their natural capabilities.
Raising my right hand here, a lefty who was forced to use my right hand to write etc, in school. As a result I can't really write but can print. On the other hand, I've found building houses, working on telecom towers, it really comes in handy having both hands to use. Take shingling for instance, perched on a ladder sometimes you just can't swing the hammer with your left hand but can with your right. Or if your left arm is getting tired driving 16d nails, you can easily switch.
Same thing with tower climbing being able to rely on both hand made positioning at extreme heights much easier. I still throw a ball with my left hand but I really consider myself more ambidextrouse than lefty now.
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous. :-)
The left-right brain thing is similar to cornucopists techno-fixes or abiotic oil.
It is pop stuff the media like to tout, as do some irresponsible, unscrupulous authors. Compare to: Men are Martians contrasted to Women are Venusians. Sounds a bit scuzzy?
Nothing in the pop or pseudo Science press about left/right brain can, or *should be*, related to ordinary individuals, such as boys who paint, adults who ride bikes, engineers who make plans, drivers who brake, women who knit, Generals who take military decisions, and on and on.
Perhaps a mechanical metaphor can serve: the brain as a material machine. If you knock off a part of the thing, it can still move forward, light up, and reverse for three meters. The other functions don’t work. If you knock off another part, the lights have gone, there is no more reverse, but great speed forward can be attained. So, the different parts of the machine react differently to destruction - to the left or right (or front or back) doesn’t have the same effect. That does not mean that the ‘left or right’ parts have specific functions, its a complex system, coordinated.
No way these left-right (or back front) effects can be related to the characteristics of the machine as a whole, with some machines being “ohhh.... right controlled”...or “mostly left” - a ‘left’ tractor? Might Chavez invent it? ;)
People have different interests and different ‘gifts’, live in different milieus, adapt differently, etc. Nothng to do with left or ride side of the brain.
So please have some understanding and pity for those who think hydrogen will solve problems or that oil was injected into the earth by some mysterious action of solar rings managed by ...UFOS?
No, you're wrong-if I had been taught to write with my left hand I would have a ton more money, or maybe I would be the oldest contestant to ever win American Idol-I would sing my hit song while throwing together some Jackson Pollock type piece of garbage. Damn those primary school fascists.
hazel nut,
It was just a thought I had riding to work on my bike and I have enough experience with relearning handedness that I know the limits of the concept and how hard it is to change one person with a lot of effort after 40 years of age for minimal results so no I am not into quick and easy mass solutions for society or working on an impractical level. However if you do not start at the most basic level you just don't have a solid enough foundation for your new building. Basic human behavioural patterns must be changed. I also have been doing yoga for 13 years and Tai Chi for 6 years and meditation as well so I am felxible in my use of techniques for self change and experiment and a serious and non dogmatic. I do not think a new invention will fix everything. Maybe we are the problem as humans and a new species is called for to start over and we should go extinct. But we might need a totally new approach. Beyond controlled evolutionary change, which nobody knwos how to control without making Frankenstein's monster I can only suggest using those levers we understand to alleviate problems in modern human nature which occur due to overemphasis on linear thinking, etc. which might promote the seven deadly sins, alienation,etc. by using modern techniques and Asian techniques like yoga to balance us out as individuals and as a culture. Who knows if we can get a second chance after the coming PO dieoff. Why just continue repaeting all our mistakes again and again due to simple misunderstandings like language type, handedness or a cultural emphasis on logical thinking vs. holistic thinking. Of course it is deeper. Duality is wrong and unity is the way. It sounds like the link above from a video of the lady who had a stroke shows similar to mystical experiences in some ways. We just have to be able to consciously control that experience then we do not need to run around seeking happiness in externals. This is truly just a trick. From the indian theread I take it most indians, poor as dirt get this idea better than we do.
Heh, @ Brian T, it is said that left-handers are more ‘original’, more ‘creative’, etc. - most likely simply because they are different from the majority. There is solid evidence they die younger (from many places in the world) but why exactly is not known, perhaps simply because they live in a right-handed world. (Google turns up stuff.) I believe insurers do not use this categorization. @ galactic, oh I agree with most of what you write, it’s general thrust anyway. Also - Forcing children to ‘switch’ is a poor idea and not very current today, though of course who knows what happens on the ground here or there.
So, to sum up (moving far away from OIL..), 1) left-right handeness is related to left-right brain dominance in complex ways (see link, just the first reasonable hit off google), 2) culture and the construction of our world play a tremendous role - think sports, or flying a Boeing.
Enough!
http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/brain.html
I can only golf left handed,bat a baseball left handed, and played hockey left handed. I write and throw right handed so it is all messed up-there are probably millions in the same situation-have no idea of any relevance.
I can very much believe that forcing someone into writing with their non-dominant hand can be have very negative results (both neurologically and because of the psychological implication that "there's something wrong with you"). As far as I know, in the UK forcing people to be right-handed has not been done for at least twenty years, and that's a good thing too in my opinion.
What I'm more sceptical about is that if there was a push towards using "right brain" languages we as a population would develop "holistic thinking" that would lead to societies that avoid some of the problems of current western society.
I have found that any paricular task takes time to learn fluidly with left hand after being used to using right hand. The brain and musles problbly store it in memory onthe other brain side and that side of the brain needs practice like a muscle.
I suspect scientific studies would show some mental differences. I think I am better adjusted but i do lots of self development work so it is hard to say what is working bettter for me, to separate the various "therapies" out.
What that all could do for society if everyone got into it is a different matter.
Great point. Maybe we could put a European and then a Chinese under one of those magnetic resonance machines and see how their brains work wtih regards to language to figure this out with radioactive markers and such.
It would be interesting to try the same with right and left handed people and with people who change from right to left handed over the time period they switch to see how brain functions change.
People like Tibetan monks do similar tests and their brain scans are pretty interesting as well compared to normal peoples. They can control this stuff and that is the big difference to us. That is an art/science in their "religion", if you want to call it that, is actually more a higher form of scientific brain/consciousness control with nontechnical means.
The **classic** pov is that in daily life, in functioning, in resistance to insult (brain damage), in learning capacity, in diversification (learning new languages, etc.) the language spoken makes little difference. - They all work pretty much the same way though the surface grammar is not the same, and differ from lang. to lang. Chomsky would be the first to say that.
The written transcriptions, however, as they are wildly varied, are conserved (insult) / not, easier / harder to learn, more / less easeful to use, extensible to other scripts, or not, etc.
Well known example: China claims it has no dyslexics, as the written system is - more or less whole word - one graphic positioned in a rectangle corresponds to one meaning (like a picture, but the pictographic quality is much exaggerated.) Italy, by contrast, has problems with hyperlexics - children or ppl who can read aloud text and haven’t a clue what it means.
pardon for going on about this.