Topic brain
The Superior Human?
1.32K views
The idea that humans are superior to all other life forms is a fundamental underlying premise of western culture. It is an old historical idea, rooted in colonialism, and is embedded in religion and science. It is one of the root causes for destruction of the natural world, animal cruelty, war, the extinction of species and other immense problems. The Superior Human? challenges this arrogant and self-destructive ideology; unwinds the myths, using examples and 'common sense'.
The Great Porn Experiment
1.23K views
The Great Porn Experiment asks the question: What is the hyperstimulation of today's Internet enticements doing to our brains?
The Medicated Child
960 views
The Medicated Child confronts psychiatrists, researchers and government regulators about the risks, benefits and many questions surrounding psychotropic drugs for children. The biggest current controversy surrounds the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Formerly called manic depression, bipolar disorder was long believed to only 'apply to adults', but in the mid-1990s 'bipolar disorder in children' began to be diagnosed at much higher rates, sometimes in children as young as 4 years old...
Transcendent Man
3.00K views
Ray Kurzweil, noted inventor and futurist, is a man who refuses to accept the inevitability of death. He proposes that his Law of Accelerating Returns -- the exponential increase in the growth of information technology -- is first of all sustainable and will result in a "singularity", a point where humans and machines will converge, allowing one to 'transcend' biological 'limits'. But there are many who share deep concerns about the consequences of working towards such a world...
The Brain — A Secret History
637 views
The Brain -- A Secret History is a series about how various theories and experiments on the human mind over decades have led to profound insights into how the human brain works, but also have involved great cruelty and pose terrible ethical dilemmas. Historical experiments such as severe maternal deprivation, brainwashing and other experiments in mind control such as MKULTRA are covered, along with physical interventions such as the history of electric shock 'treatment', behaviour modification, experimental psychology, and the Milgram experiment.
The Future of The Brain
1.27K views
Neuroscientist Professor Susan Greenfield says today's developing brain is being worryingly reshaped by excessive visual stimulation -- the effect of a culture driven by screens. Biotechnology, nanotechnology, even the internet are all impacting on our brains and could be heralding future generations with different abilities, agendas and even ways of thinking. Her prediction is that we might be standing on the brink of a cataclysmic mind-makeover never before seen...
Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Experiment
795 views
In the summer of 1971, Philip Zimbardo, Craig Haney, and Curtis Banks carried out a psychological experiment to test a simple question: What happens when you put ordinary people in positions of power, enabling abuse? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? To explore this, student volunteers were selected and randomly assigned to play the role of prisoner or guard in a simulated prison at Stanford University. Although the students were mentally healthy and knew they were taking part in an experiment, some guards quickly became sadistic, while prisoners showed signs of acute stress, depression and trauma. After only six days, the planned two-week study was a disaster...
The Cyborg Experiments
1.35K views
Kevin Warwick is an internationally renowned Professor and researcher in the field of Cybernetics -- the study of Artificial Intelligence, human control functions, robotics and cybernetic organisms. His work presented in this video shows how implant and electrode technology can be used to create biological brains for robots, to enable human enhancement and possible therapeutic effects for neurological illness. In any case, the end goal is human enhancement, or "transhumanism", which inevitably stirs up many social, ethical and philosophical questions...
Crazy Rulers of The World
908 views
Crazy Rulers of the World is a series that investigates what happens when chiefs of US intelligence, the army, and the government "began believing in very strange things". With first-hand access to the leading players in the story, Jon Ronson examines the extraordinary and plain bizarre national secrets at the core of the war on terror...
The Virtual Revolution
2.11K views
20 years on from the invention of the World Wide Web, The Virtual Revolution explores how the Internet is reshaping almost every aspect of our lives. But what is really going on behind this reshaping? The founding father of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee, believed his invention would remain an open frontier that nobody could own, and that it would take power from the few and give it to the many. So how do these utopian claims stand today? Have the possibilities of the technology been constrained purposefully by corporations and distorted by government?