Phrenology Man
Studying biology at high school in the the 1970s I became aware of the "Piltdown Man Hoax". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man
Piltdown Man was "discovered" in England by Charles Dawson in 1912, and although questions were asked over the ensuing decades, it was not until 1953 (long after Dawson's death) that it was shown to be an academic fraud. Well, perhaps "fraud" is too strong a word. Maybe it was an insiders' joke that got out of hand. One thing led to another and soon this fossilised skull appeared in the textbooks.
Needless to say, such a scientific hoax would be impossible to fabricate today. DNA testing has put a stop to that once and for all. Mind you, that's not to say some prominent theories of science today (Global Warming for instance), might not be scrutinised more closely in the future. I hope we can retain enough of our sense of skepticism (THE scientific method par excellence) to make such questions possible in the face of cancel culture.
Well let me tell you straight out. This image is a fake. It's not an "ancient alien", and although he goes by the name of "Phrenology Man", this pseudo science was itself shown to be fake by the end of the 19th century. The one thing I will say about Phrenology is that it got the "mechanics" completely wrong and the Phrenology bust model was complete fiction, but the general idea when applied to the brain (not the shape of the skull) is now regarded as likely. In other words, neurologists have shown through CT scans and the likes, that certain sections of the human brain do in fact control aspects of the mind and body.
Just a quick word on this and then I'll leave you in peace. We've all heard of the ideas about Right Brain and Left Brain. The simplistic notion that the right hemisphere controls the "feeling and creative" aspects and, the left hemisphere our "rational and linguistic" aspects. Now the major problem here is that it is far too simplistic. In fact, it is better to say that whilst certain sections of the brain do specialise in particular functions, it is the neural networks linking all these sections that do the real work of the mind.
Perhaps the preeminent expert in this field is the British psychiatrist, Professor Iain McGilchrist. In the same year that Jung's Red Book was first published, McGilchrist's masterwork appeared, "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World" (2009). Here is a brief synopsis of his work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Ci-9y_EYo
For a fuller discussion of the implications of his work (although there is no substitute to reading the incredible book): "Matter is a Relative Matter With Iain McGilchrist" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAlwrnpHIs
The brain is truly an extraordinary organ. More than that, it is the pinnacle of the creative process. The problem with Phrenology Man is that he is really a simpleton.
Phrenology Man
Studying biology at high school in the the 1970s I became aware of the "Piltdown Man Hoax". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man
Piltdown Man was "discovered" in England by Charles Dawson in 1912, and although questions were asked over the ensuing decades, it was not until 1953 (long after Dawson's death) that it was shown to be an academic fraud. Well, perhaps "fraud" is too strong a word. Maybe it was an insiders' joke that got out of hand. One thing led to another and soon this fossilised skull appeared in the textbooks.
Needless to say, such a scientific hoax would be impossible to fabricate today. DNA testing has put a stop to that once and for all. Mind you, that's not to say some prominent theories of science today (Global Warming for instance), might not be scrutinised more closely in the future. I hope we can retain enough of our sense of skepticism (THE scientific method par excellence) to make such questions possible in the face of cancel culture.
Well let me tell you straight out. This image is a fake. It's not an "ancient alien", and although he goes by the name of "Phrenology Man", this pseudo science was itself shown to be fake by the end of the 19th century. The one thing I will say about Phrenology is that it got the "mechanics" completely wrong and the Phrenology bust model was complete fiction, but the general idea when applied to the brain (not the shape of the skull) is now regarded as likely. In other words, neurologists have shown through CT scans and the likes, that certain sections of the human brain do in fact control aspects of the mind and body.
Just a quick word on this and then I'll leave you in peace. We've all heard of the ideas about Right Brain and Left Brain. The simplistic notion that the right hemisphere controls the "feeling and creative" aspects and, the left hemisphere our "rational and linguistic" aspects. Now the major problem here is that it is far too simplistic. In fact, it is better to say that whilst certain sections of the brain do specialise in particular functions, it is the neural networks linking all these sections that do the real work of the mind.
Perhaps the preeminent expert in this field is the British psychiatrist, Professor Iain McGilchrist. In the same year that Jung's Red Book was first published, McGilchrist's masterwork appeared, "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World" (2009). Here is a brief synopsis of his work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Ci-9y_EYo
For a fuller discussion of the implications of his work (although there is no substitute to reading the incredible book): "Matter is a Relative Matter With Iain McGilchrist" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAlwrnpHIs
The brain is truly an extraordinary organ. More than that, it is the pinnacle of the creative process. The problem with Phrenology Man is that he is really a simpleton.