Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty (Brain Talk: Conversations with Neuroscientists) [Kindle Edition]

Ginger Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Have you ever felt absolutely sure about something you know or believe... only to find out you were absolutely wrong?

Where does that feeling of certainty come from? Why can't it always be trusted?

The answer that emerging from neuroscience may surprise you.

In Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty Dr. Campbell explores both the origins of certainty, but also the implications the emerging science.

In the tradition of physician writers like Oliver Sacks and Antonio Damasio, Dr. Ginger Campbell's clear and accessible writing style, makes this potentially complex subject accessible to readers of all backgrounds.

Product Details

• File Size: 152 KB
• Print Length: 58 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: JENTS, LLC; 1 edition (June 10, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008AK8W1Q
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #261,872 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Why Certainty is a Lie June 17, 2012

By Tvindy

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Dr. Ginger Campbell has been podcasting about Brain Science for over five and a half years. Since most of the episodes center around interviews with scientists and researchers with something to say on the topic, her 80-plus-episode podcast has become a wealth of fascinating information about the human brain and its processes from various fields and individual perspectives, made easily accessible to the layman. "Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty" is the first of what I hope to become many publications focusing in greater depth on concepts explored in the podcast.

"Are You Sure?" draws mainly from the ideas of neurologist Robert Burton, author of On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not. Burton was interviewed twice by Campbell on the Brain Science Podcast, and her book includes a transcript of much of her conversation with him. In a nutshell, her book is about the uncertainty of certainty. In other words, we cannot fully rely on feelings of certainty as proof that we know the truth, because the sense of certainty, or absolute knowing, arises from neurological processes that do not and cannot have all the facts. No matter how absolutely certain we may feel about an issue or fact, the truth of the matter is that our brains did a certain amount of unconscious guesswork and then instead of telling us something to the effect of "I (your brain) estimate that this is around 90% likely to be true," send us a deep gut feeling of certainty. In evolutionary terms, this makes sense. An animal is far less likely to act and put itself in danger if it has any doubts about the necessity of acting. A mother bear charging a hunter to protect her cubs probably wouldn't react as fast, as decisively, or possibly at all, if she weren't absolutely certain that her cubs were in imminent danger. The problem in humans is that this causes us to be far less rational than we think we are. Religious wars are probably the most extreme case of this.

One idea in the book which intrigued me is the fact that apparently a significant number of people who remember where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy was assassinated, Challenger exploded, or 9/11 occurred apparently remember wrongly, despite their absolute certainty in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In the case of the Challenger disaster, they disagree with the details of their own personal accounts of the incident written the day after it happened. I am too young to have existed when Kennedy was shot, but I certainly remember the other two, and I would be astonished to discover my memories of where I was when I found out about them are substantially wrong, but I am intrigued enough to try to verify them as far as I can. (Since you can't be certain of anything.)

I like the book, and it's definitely a must-read if you're specifically interested in the topic, but it's definitely not derived from the most fascinating discussion on Campbell's podcast. In fact, I wouldn't even put it in the top ten (according to my personal preference). For this reason, I eagerly await future publications by her.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking forward to more ... June 14, 2012

By Don Gregory

Format:Kindle Edition

In this monograph Dr. Ginger Campbell is continuing her tradition of bringing ideas from some of the world's top scientists to the public. Following on from her excellent podcasts (BrainScience and Books & Ideas), to her science-communication-organizational efforts (sciencepodcasters.org), now we can look forward to these periodic summaries of her selections from those archives. It's an effort I applaud heartily and hope goes on for a long, long time.
However, there can be a few challenges when offering a (comparatively) short summary as she has done here. Compared to a full book that is ususally the subject of the (typically) hour-long podcast, it can be difficult to get some concepts across, especially when those concepts use common words like feel, thought, know, sensation, etc. In this review, for example, it wasn't clear to me whether 'knowing' always meant 'certain.' (Reflecting the title of Dr. Burton's book "On Being Certain".) If Dr. Burton's position is that we can never know anything with absolute certainty, a lot of us (and some esteemed philosophers from yesteryear) would most certainly agree. But if he is countering the idea that every thought we have, oops I mean sensation, reflects something we're absolutely certain of, then I'm not so sure (there's an example of an uncertain thought right there!)
This blurriness can lead to some confusion in communication, such as the statement on p. 42 where Dr. Burton suggests, "we only sense what we sense." Of course this has to be true as a tautology, but especially so when he has already suggested that thoughts are sensations. This then would include virtually everything to do when `thinking', i.e. processing information through our senses, as well as the internal neural-network-processing of that information.
Another example is earlier on p.14 where there is a discussion of 'when does a thought begin?' Of course "thought" and "feeling" hadn't been clearly defined yet, leaving us to assume that we all agree on what they are. I could suggest that a thought is some processing that has risen to our conscious awareness. Given this, a thought is really somewhat of an arbitrary categorization of an experience or memories of an experience. As such, the beginning of the processing itself (perhaps referring to the retrograde processing mentioned in the text as well) would be difficult to determine, but it seems to me that it would be more clear that a thought might begin when we become conscious of it. This is nicely shown in the examples given, and is discussed again on p.20 when Dr. Campbell suggests that thoughts are the result of neural networks as they process information.
For me there were several of these kinds of interesting seeds for further discussion, but then again, I suspect that is exactly what Dr. Campbell has in mind when she works (seemingly tirelessly) to develop all of her science communication productions. And for that, I think we owe her a great deal of appreciation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great deal! Good read. June 13, 2012

By Lori Wolfson

Format:Kindle Edition

In full disclosure, I want to say that I have been transcribing the original episodes of the Brain Science Podcast for many years. It's been great fun to listen to Dr. Campbell's intelligent, in-depth interviews with some of the world's leading neuroscientists, and to learn about the latest discoveries in the field. I always look forward to what Ginger is going to present to us next.

This monograph -- Are You Sure? -- gathers together some very interesting research and intriguing ideas that have been talked about in episodes of the podcast. And, in concert with Dr. Burton's research and ideas, Dr. Campbell organizes this information all together into a form that is instructive, thought-provoking, and illuminating.

I think that even regular listeners of the podcast will find valuable new insights by reading this eBook. Dr. Campbell takes her experience as a podcaster to a new level here, and puts a larger frame around some of what we are learning. Plus,it's always good to revisit this material again.

The ideas that emerge are compelling and pertinent. As always, I am invited to think big. As Dr. Burton and Dr. Campbell say, understanding the role of the unconscious in decision-making just might encourage us to be more tolerant--of ourselves, and "of the unpleasantness of uncertainty." What a good thing to learn in these uncertain times!

More About the Author

I was born in Seattle, Washington, but I have spent most of my life in Alabama, where I have worked as an emergency pyhysician for almost 20 years. But I am best know for my science-oriented podcasts: "Books and Ideas" and the "Brain Science Podcast."

"Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty" is based on two of my favorite episodes of the "Brain Science Podcast." I hope it will reach people who don't listen to podcasts. If you are one of those people, I want you to know that free transcripts are available for every episode of the Brain Science Podcast and Books and Ideas is available.

I am currently working on longer project with the working title "Advice for Aspiring Scientists." This is based on over 50 interviews I have done with leading scientists from around the world.

You can follow me on Twitter where I am @docartemis or sign up for my newsletter at virginiacampbellmd.com.

I also have a Fan Page on Facebook. Books and Ideas and the Brain Science Podcast also have Facebook Fan pages.