Reading Quest #2

In the book, How We Decide by Johan Lehrer, “Chapter 7: The Brain Is An Argument” states, “Regardless of which areas are doing the arguing, however, it’s clear that all those mental components stuffed inside the head are constantly fighting for influence and attention” (Lehrer 199).  From this, I question how does the human mind decide which component deserves more attention and which actions/thoughts/etc. should be followed? How does a human know what to do? Which side of an ‘argument’, thought or decision is ‘better’?

If “even the most mundane choices emerge from a vigorous cortical debate” and the decision-making process in general involves “a particular set of emotions and associations, all of which then compete for your conscious attention”, how does the human consciousness not get overwhelmed with this abundance of information (Lehrer 199)? How can, for the majority of people, the decision-making process be viewed as relatively easy and yet all of what has been mentioned is going on in their brains for absolutely every decision they make?

Furthermore, I question if the human brain is so complex and it is said to be the greatest machine mankind knows of, how is it that humans aren’t using their brains to its fullest capacity?

Works Cited

Lehrer, Jonah. "The Brain Is An Argument." How We Decide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 196-218. Print.