Having hibernated and lollygaged on blogging for a while now, nothing short of a swift kick on the behind was essential to get those rusty 'blogging neurons' cranked up :)... and lo and behold, should I say I'm back with a bang ;)... enough of tomfoolery... coming to serious business now, when I tell 'curious' people what I'm trying to search for in the world of brain research, batting many an eyelid, I get perplexed stares as though I come from an extraterrestrial dimension, where 'discussing' brains is something only for the brainless :)
When I say I study brain function by building computational models, I'm asked questions like isn't it the job of psychiatrists to study the brain, do you work with 'insane' people, do you perform brain surgeries :D etc. and more so as I'm not 'qualified' to be a neuroscientist, with an engineering degree... I laughed out of my life when an elderly relative back in Bangalore once asked, why are you studying neuroscience after engineering, don't you think you would go mad yourself trying to fix mad people :D...
With all candour, though my convictions for this switch remain unshaken hitherto, regardless of the kind of questions I face, there's a fundamental awareness that seems to be lacking, this awareness fuelled by curiosity amongst a certain strata of educated, well-to-do, 'scholarly' people. Agreed that fields of research are rather abstruse by themselves and that not everyone need know all the nitty gritties, but what's disappointing is the fact that callous apathy seems to override mindsets, rather than the inquisition to venture beyond known realms. Ranting under the hot sun, with a majestic view of Lac Leman, and the alps in the foreground is rather fun I must admit ;)... so what would I do in my capacity to contribute my 2 cents worth to try to bring about awareness of any kind... be 'aware' of this space ;)
3 comments:
I agree. Callous apathy instead of inquisitiveness rules everywhere which is disgusting. This not only removes your interest in such discussions with those set of people, but end up rating those people.
I also get disgusted by researchers, esp among the computer scientists (the set not involved in math/science and rather are researching on aspects of how to arrange different stuff inside the cpu box to improve performance) who think that your research is ignoble, while I think of theirs the same.
It is not that I live next to this guy's house that I am commenting. He indeed is serious on what he says and what he does too. They are one of those potential first of such kinds who are attempting to study the basic unit in the brain that is then multiplied to form what it is.
On a lighter note, enthusiasm is something that is relative, the same person who is apathetic to neuroscience could be really interested in astrology for example. This I am sure most sane of us wouldn't take outright on this field of "science".
It is the duty and responsibility of each of them to make themselves understood and felt in existence. And as the author ends rightly, to realise one's space and to use it is the need of the hour.
Wonder how far Kevin Warwick's experiments have taken him? Is the age of the embedded-neuro-computer on us yet?!
Someday, I am sure your work is going to add to something supremely significant in Humanity's quest for the future...
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