The TV is broadcasting the episode of Roberto Benigni at the corner XXXIII 's Inferno, dedicated to the traitors, among which stands out the tragic figure of Ugolino, Count of Gherardesca, captured by the Ghibellines and starved to death along with two children and two grandchildren in dark cell in a tower, later known as the Tower of hunger.
The monitor can see the brightly illuminated image of the church of Santa Maria Novella and the stage on which he performs Benigni, surrounded by a dark sea of spectators.
We're all 'last part of the episode, the reading of Canto. Benigni is compared to a humble candle, whose light is obscured by the 'breaking of the sun when he starts reading, since the Sun represents the evocative power of words - poetry, tragic and very high - of Dante Alighieri.
Sound. I open to Gino, my friend next door.
Gino
Professor, my TV does not work. I can see on your Benigni?
Professor
Sure, come in! For me it is a pleasure. We'll have company.
Generally, when listening to music by Mozart, Verdi, Brahms, or read a poem of Leopardi, or have witnessed an extraordinary event like tonight, the human mind, no longer enveloped in common everyday occurrences, it rises higher and higher free to speculate on more universal themes, and is remarkable, is able to investigate even on itself.
Considering the brilliance of the minds of these great giants in the history of 'humanity, and while listening to Gino Benigni reads the Canto of Dante, I start thinking about the mystery of the human mind.
Gino note my distraction, and asks me what I'm thinking. And here begins a strange conversation, which carry more than what I remember, between me and Gino.
Scientific approach to the human mind.
Gino
For you, what is the human mind?
Professor
I think it 's set of some of the capabilities of the brain, such as' intelligence, memory, consciousness, l' emotions, but these are abstract concepts that do not define anything scientifically.
I do not think you can define exactly the mind, according to current knowledge. D 'other hand, your brain is not fully understood, but some of its characteristics are well known.
friend
Maybe you mean by characteristics such as ownership of the complexity of its structure?
Professor
Not only complex but also specificity, and more.
The human brain is certainly the most complex thing on the planet Earth, and possibly also in the 'universe, which is immense, but structurally simple, being ultimately formed from multiple combinations of its three stable fundamental particles - the proton, l' electron and neutrons - and just go up to some level for most of the substances listed in the 'universe is constituted, and which is substantially hydrogen, helium, and plasma.
friend
Stop! Sull 'argument, I have a simple conversation, not a debate engaged. That is, I want to talk in simple terms, just to what might satisfy our curiosity, and could at most be helpful to know ourselves better.
Professor
But you forget that we say these things then I will put it on your blog or website, and the public Internet is often demanding, and will not only opinions and thoughts, but also facts, news.
Meanwhile, it is essential to have a basic knowledge of the contents of these three tabs:
1. Cell
2. Brain
3. Mind
E 'can, however, a compromise solution: we proceed by keyword, a kind of rapid telegraphic communication, trying to quickly close the circle.
friend
Ok, I begin.
When we talk about the 'origin of eukaryotic cells, and the' hypothesis of Jacques Monod, and again the genetic code and protein synthesis, I wondered whether there might be an intelligence nature.
Professor
Understanding of nature is an expression of strong, too busy!
But certainly we can not deny that there are naturally intelligent mechanisms. The cell itself is like a sophisticated chemical laboratory automated, whose software is provided by Mother Nature, of course, we do not know the mechanism by which it came to the first eukaryotic cell, because this would be to know the 'origin of life.
If one takes into account the DNA, protein synthesis, the 'origin of natural species, and cell differentiation, we find written in the book of nature, the fundamental principles of human discoveries. So in this sense, nature is intelligent.
Human brain and neurons.
String. If I say the brain, what 'is the' basic unit of the corresponding base?
There 's no doubt neuron.
L 'human body is formed by at least 200 types of cells that have different characters and different roles.
The neuron is one of those types. Like the common cells, neurons have a nucleus, a cytoplasm and a cell membrane, and perform the same functions of a normal cell from which peròdifferiscono for two main aspects: do not regenerate, and, in addition to normal cell functions standard carry information.
Come plan. Now we're running too! What do you mean by 's transport information?
Simply this: neurons carry all the information needed by the body to the brain, and from the brain to the body.
For example, if you're at the end of a crosswalk and you see a 'car that is coming upon you, the brain sends to' make sense to motor all the signals needed to make you jump onto the platform and these are direct signals from the brain to the body. And while you're listening, I'm providing the information that is stored in a very precise location of the brain.
When it tells me something, are affected other areas of the brain.
The exchange of information takes place via electrochemical signals, the electrical signal is all 'inside of the neuron, and chemical (neurotransmitter) between a neuron and an adjacent one. Neurons are equipped with specialized extensions called dendrites and axons, synapses (specialized structures for communication) and neurotransmitters (chemicals).
C 'is a point that I am not clear.
When it appeared the first eukaryotic cell (about 900 million years ago), it was part of a very simple organism, the neurons which then performs a number of functions might be less than that on the neurons' Homo sapiens (just appeared 200 thousand years ago).
The question is: how do you explain the 'increase in complexity of the neuron, if all of it is written and sealed in its DNA?
The answer lies in two key words: evolution of species, and cell differentiation.
While ago, you mentioned Jacques Monod. In his famous book, 'Chance and necessity', explains everything in detail. Ultimately, occasionally the security system that guarantees the consistency of the structure of the neuron missed because something goes out of line in the replication of the chain from the 'RNA, and thus was born a change. If the survival of the species this variation is necessary, it strengthens over time, becoming stable. In other words, assuming by contradiction 's absence of these exceptions random immediately after the formation of the first eukaryotic cell, then we would never have existed. And instead, the passage, for example, from the curve to a standing position because of an occasional defect in the replication process of the chain, proved useful for the survival of the species, because the 'man of that time was early to spot the danger; then, that occasional defect that turned slowly into a regular process.
We have not overlooked the regeneration of neurons. If it is true that neurons, unlike other types of cells do not regenerate, then we must infer that the number dimuinisce in life.
Unfortunately. But while the number of neurons decreases (obviously because senescence or die from other causes), fortunately a growing number of connections between all neurons, especially in the presence of a 'mental activity. They say that the brain is plastic.
Cultural approach to the human mind.
W e came to 'main argument: the human mind.
Nell 'antiquity it was thought that the seat of mental functions was the heart. Then he realized that these functions - either in the mind as a synonym also psyche or soul - at least to reside largely in the brain, strictly, and more generally in the central nervous system.
Contemporary Scientific Psychology (PSC Wundth, year 1878) determined the reorientation towards what F. Lange effectively define 'psychology without the' soul ', now -' s - exclusive investigated metaphysical or philosophical, and therefore an entity distinct from the mind. But it seems that today the main problem lies in the fact that one knows the functions of the mind, it makes assumptions about their location, but we know very little about their mechanisms.
P roprio so.
That the mind is an abstract definition. Scientific progress can only give, in a near future we hope, correct and complete interpretation.
Assumptions? For goodness sake, no! The Internet is full of thousands of cases of all kinds: philosophical, theological, futuristic, sci-fi, etc.., So, you should leave the field of hypotheses to those brilliant minds that open shortcuts to successful scientific research. Reflections, yes. An interesting approach might be to how does the human mind to great people at the mystery of 'universe. Another approach, fundamental, could be the contribution of poetry to the perception of the great mysteries.
M i do remember Stanley Kubrick's film, '2001: A Space Odyssey '. Kubrick said 'he wanted to be a' visual expression, which bypasses the understanding to penetrate with its emotional content directly in the 'unconscious'.
I remember, in fact, the big black monolith (the symbol of a cosmic intelligence?) That appears in each of three episodes of the film, and the human mind struggling for survival against the artificial one of HAL. Then again, the great silences in the absence d 'air, outside the' ship, and above all the spectacular journey of the spacecraft propelled by a sort of black hole in space and time. In my opinion, some references, such as the monolith, and others, are deliberately vague, to increase that sense of anxiety and fear, quite palpable to the viewer especially at the end of the film.
But I think the poem 'L' infinite ', by Giacomo Leopardi.
I was always dear 's hermitage hill
and this fence, which has so much
's last look at the horizon excludes.
But sitting and contemplating, endless
space beyond that, and superhuman
silences, and deepest quiet
I thought I pretend I'm in, where nearly
my heart is not frightened. And like the wind
I hear rustling among these plants, that I
infinite silence to this entry
vo comparing, and I remember the 'eternal
and the dead seasons, and this
and alive, and the sound of it. So between this
immensity s' drowns my thought
and the sinking m 'is sweet in this sea.
Here, some reflections on the psychological situation of the poet was born in 's inspiration
'The reason is the same, namely the desire of' infinite, because then instead of having works l 'imagination and fantasy crept to the real. L 'soul imagines that he sees, that this' tree, that hedge, that hides the tower and goes wandering in an imaginary space, and it appears things could not, if his view is extended everywhere, because an honest l 'imaginary'.
Poetry and literature in general (who does not recall the writings of Jules Verne?) Could therefore act as surprising to anticipate and interpreters of mysteries such as the human mind.
A few other observations. While Kubrick's film - as you say - is at times frightening, the sweetness of the verses in the poem 'L' infinite 'remains unchanged until the end:
'Interminable space beyond that, and deep in thought I pretend I am quiet, where the heart is not nearly terrified'. But then, there is the overcoming of fear. Everything is reduced to the everyday human experience:
E 'as I hear the wind rustling among these plants, I'm the one infinite silence to this entry comparing vo' |
The poet's mind, feeling of the time - the 'succession of the seasons' - and the infinite, to it, felt a pleasure, you leave:
So between this immensity s 'drowns my thought, and the loss m' is sweet in this sea.
The vision of the poet is cosmic: the complexity of his mind is able to contain the 'idea of' infinite universe.
Back to the newspaper.
Then I wake up.
I glance at the TV screen. The episode of Benigni's over.
L 'friend Gino' s, but has never come? I wonder if all that was caused by a stroke of sleep, to dream of my mind!
I approach the balcony, and do a 'look down. The yellow light of the lamps illuminates vividly the small square below and the two roads that merge at right angles. Scenario still, motionless, almost unreal.
A passer-by to check 'street corner, and advancing deep in thought, passes under the house, arriving late in the second stretch of road, and suddenly vanishes, as it appeared: an' island if the world peculiar to the unique and only his mind.
Tomorrow morning, everything will go back as before, with the usual daily facts, reassuring.
I turn off the TV and going to sleep.
L 'admin
Note 's author. Science has not yet experimentally and scientifically clarified the nature of the human mind, as described in detail three cards: the human cell, the brain, the mind. In this article I tried to feel the power and complexity of the human mind through 's evocation of the poem' L 'infinity', focusing 'attention on the comparison between the mind of the poet, a small but enormously complex, and his idea 's endless, endless, but structurally much simpler. For this task proved too difficult!, I kindly ask opinions and advice to readers.
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