Poems by Marta Kutas,
in The Cognitive Neuroscience of Mind, A Tribute to Michael S. Gazzaniga,
Editors P.A. Reuter-Lorenz, K. Baynes, G.R. Mangun, & E.A. Phelps,
MIT Press, Cambridge Mass,
2010
The Bisected Brain (p. 1)
Two brains in one skull or so it seems.But are there really two (separate & equal) conscious streams?
or some unfathomable nonlinear sum
that makes each cc-connected human brain a uniquely mindful one?
Integrated Mind (p. 87)
From what is known of brains splitscientists can infer the integrated it.
In the neural codes traversing callosal roads
informational balance maintained
neural operations constrained to interact
via a silent pact from which emerges a sense of free will and unity
that governs each (hu)man's mentality
purging disharmony from a large modular community
and creating its own personal view of reality.
Social Brain (p. 123)
Mind matters.Consciousness, less so
if it is considered the trigger of "go".
For it's a post-event
sent to placate human vanity,
providing mental unity
from a screaming modular community.
Mind Matters (p. 189)
Homunculuswhat do you want from me?
From us? From we?
Who can I be
but you -- whom I (must) deny?
Do you know why?
Are you one or many?
Any that has a different voice?
Any that can offer an alternative choice?
Any that wait for me to decide
whether to automatically react, thoughtfully enact, or
merely hide somewhere inside?
Any that can help clear up the confusion
emerging from the neural collusion
that leads me not only to feel
that "I" am real
but to insist
that "I" exist!