The Slippery Brain Sodality
...from the Latin sodalitat-, sodalitas comradeship, club, from sodalis comrade
Welcome to the nascent book club of the Slippery Brain Society! Established mid-summer 2009, we are an open group and welcome visitors and new members. Read on for some answers to the most basic questions, and feel free to e-mail inquiries to annelieseb@gmail.com .
What’s a “slippery brain?”
The definition of slippery brain is a work-in-progress (see in sodality, on another occasion, "slippery brain," and more reflections on slippery brain). That said, let me paraphrase Paul Grobstein, who coined the term some 5-6 years ago, and once told me that a slippery brain is a brain that changes states frequently/rapidly, making it disconcerting to others and (sometimes?) to oneself.
Alternately, it may be that slippery-brain is a quality or state of mind that we all have the potential to experience, though some with greater likelihood than others.
Furthermore, although it may be experienced as bewildering/frustrating, we tend to believe that it is ultimately more “a feature” than “a bug.”
Why a book club?
Despite the above assertion, learning to live with and enjoy slippery-brainedness can be a challenge, made easier through association with other slippery brains. Thus, one aim of the book club is to foster such learning and growth by exploring literature by and/or about other slippery brains and sharing our own personal experiences. At the same time, engaging with these stories holds value for anyone, slippery-brained or not, as it challenges conventional notions of “normal” and offers a more inclusive (and, I would argue, much more interesting) alternative.
What kinds of books do you read?
We do not have any strict rules about this – as long as it’s germane to the overall topic, it’s fair game.
Currently reading: Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (O. Sacks)
Past titles:
A Mind Apart (S. Antonetta)
Animals in Translation (T. Grandin)
NEXT MEETING: Saturday, November 21, 10:00 a.m. at Bryn Mawr College, Park Science Building, Room 106
Obama as "slippery-brained"
Have been talking with Professor Grobstein about "doing things with no clear or decided overall purpose". To be less abstract, for me personally there's lots of things I like/would like to do (job-wise, hobby-wise, etc.) but they don't seem to "go together", I don't see where they will all lead. I feel like they have to all come together to fulfill a single, ultimate purpose. William James came up in this discussion and he is apparently one who did what interested him without any consideration of the bigger picture.
There was an op-ed piece in the NYT ("More Poetry, Please" - 31 Oct, 2009) about Obama that reminded me of this particular way of doing things. The writer in the column is voicing a concern that Obama's (seemingly-disconnected for the moment) efforts on health care, foreign policies, education, economics, and so on lack a "narrative". To quote,
"He has not tied all his programs into a single narrative that shows the links between his health care, banking, economic, climate, energy, education and foreign policies. Such a narrative would enable each issue and each constituency to reinforce the other and evoke the kind of popular excitement that got him elected."
Maybe Obama is like James, and we should give his policies time to come together, maybe that will lead to something better than it otherwise would. At any rate perhaps those of us who are slippery-brain/James likeminded and lack clear goals or narratives should be patient with ourselves, and others should be patient with such personality characteristics.
Fall Reading
Great meeting last night - thanks! Bits I remember:
There was more, of course, but those are the points that stuck for me. Others?
I'm also thrilled that everyone liked the idea of reading some Nietzsche, who (based on his fictional depiction in Yalom's When Nietzsche Wept) struck me as a rather slippery-brained individual. Our next book will therefore be Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I'll check in with everyone in a few weeks to see whether it makes sense to cover the book in two sessions rather than one.
Be well,
Anneliese
case in point
...in true slippery-brain fashion, we collectively decided to shift gears and jump from Zarathustra to Uncle Tungsten. I'm still interested in Nietzsche (though maybe a different piece of writing?), and perhaps we can revisit him at a later date, if there's general interest.
Next meeting, as noted above, will be on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 10:00 AM. Hope to see you there!
Anneliese
The balance of parts and wholes in autism and neurotypicals
Anneliese beautifully captured above what may well be the most far reaching implications of our last conversation, the possibility that not only people on the spectrum but many animals as well create and act partially in relation to "stories" or "wholes" that include somewhat arbitrary synthetic elements making the stories more than the sum of their parts. That makes increasing sense to me and is something I want to think/explore much more in the future. It is indeed possible that a tendency of "neurotypicals" to discount story telling in others is actually because neurotypicals have trouble hearing/responding to stories in a style different from the one they have in common/are used to.
In the meanwhile, though, I also don't want to neglect Temple Grandin's compelling argument, for me at least, that the particular story telling style of neurotypicals has some significant downsides. "Attentional blindness" is a striking example of this, increasingly well documented and recognized. But Grandin also suggests that neurotypicals are more likely to dissociate than other story tellers, that "repression" is a characteristic of neurotypicals lacking in autistic people and other animals. And there is the very interesting possiblity that less emphasis on neurotypical forms of story may make interpersonal interactions less fraught in both autistic humans and other animals.
I'm very much intrigued by the notion that a number of context dependent deficits of this sort in neurotypicals may reflect a greater reliance on "top down" processing, and so on descriptors of "wholes" rather than parts. Perhaps the resolution of Grandin's emphasis on this, and our discussion, is in "greater reliance on" top-down processing in neurotypicals rather than an absence of it in others?
explore how?
"...the possibility that not only people on the spectrum but many animals as well create and act partially in relation to "stories" or "wholes" that include somewhat arbitrary synthetic elements making the stories more than the sum of their parts. That makes increasing sense to me and is something I want to think/explore much more in the future."
Can you elaborate? i.e., how would you go about exploring this further?
checking in
Happy September/almost Fall -
Hope everyone is enjoying these late summer days and looking forward to interesting pursuits this fall. Sorry for the long pause - was away for 10 days and am adjusting to new schedule/routine.
Wanted to sound out everyone's availability/interest for a get-together this month. Speaking for myself, a later time would work better (say, Mondays at 8pm or Tuesdays at 7:30pm). Other thoughts? Feel free to convey these via e-mail (annelieseb@gmail.com), if you prefer.
In the meantime, happy reading!
slippery on the big screen
...in case you haven't already heard about it: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/adam/
slipperiness as cinema
Looks interesting/germane indeed. Had noticed ads for it. Haven't seen it. You?
adam
Did, indeed - felt his slipperiness was made to look overly exotic/foreign.
Next up
Thanks, all, for a satisfying second get-together. I for one was able to better appreciate A Mind Apart as a result of our discussion, and I enjoyed the diversity of responses the book elicited.
For anyone who couldn't make it, we decided to follow Antonetta's lead into an exploration of other species' minds, to see what insights they may offer into our own (and others') slipperiness. Therefore, the selection of the month is Animals in Translation, by Temple Grandin: http://www.grandin.com/inc/animals.in.translation.html
We've not yet set a date for our next meeting, and I expect there may be some scheduling changes, what with Labor Day and the beginning of classes.
Stay tuned!
~Anneliese
A Mind Apart = slippery brain?
I too found it a rich conversation. For my thoughts on the book itself, see A Neurodiverse World. Among the things I found most interesting about the conversation was the connection made between reading Antonetta and reading Walt Whitman or Samuel Beckett or Virginia Woolf or James Joyce. And the relation between that and things one complains about in one's own brain. And a set of thoughts about dealing with the phenomenon of slippery brain in one's self
Next get-together
Friends/Comrades-
It's not escaped my notice that the first week of August is upon us. Given that MH&Brain Group was deferred to the first Monday of the month, how does everyone's schedule look for August 10?
Has everyone who's interested had a chance to read Ms. Antonetta's book?One of many "minds apart"
10th fine by me. Part way through reread of A Mind Apart. And again enjoying it. A suggestion for anyone having trouble with it or short of time: read the prologue and any one additional chapter. The prologue makes an argument of great relevance to our group. The chapters are more or less distinct glimpses into a particular slippery brain that enjoys looking into/thinking about other slippery brains.
Almost finished! As far as
Almost finished! As far as I know, I think I'm free the 10th.
two related quotes...
"Our inviolable uniqueness lies in our poetic ability to say unique and obscure things, not in our ability to say obvious things to ourselves alone." (123)
"that people are somehow always going to be so slimy and slippery (Satre's viscousness) that they will escape "objective" explanation." (347)
-from Richard Rorty Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
another slippery brain
Maybe not just another but an archetype? Raymond Smullyan is someone I've been vaguely aware of for decades, but just become better acquainted with through the serendipitous acquisition/reading of his The Tao is Silent, originally published in 1977. Its wonderful, and strongly suggestive of a slippery brain wrestling with a non-slippery brain world. Among other things, I'm additionally intrigued by the fact that it postdated world class contributions to the theory of formal systems(much more esoteric but actually closely related), was contemporary with a great interest in helping others learn about the strengths and limitations of logic, and predated continuing contributions to the practice and appreciation of music.
Long live Smullyan ... and slippery brains.
more reflections on slippery brain
Lots of interesting notions from our first "official" gathering last week. Thanks all. A few things I want to mull, for me and any one else interested ...
The more I think about it, the more I think that "slippery brain" is actually a reasonably discrete category/phenomenon, at least as discrete as most ways we characterize peoples' brains/minds, at least for me. Some people fit that category more or less, others don't. Thinking about well-known people who seemed to me obviously to fit the category helped me along these lines: Bob Dylan, Pablo Picasso, Oliver Sachs, Vilanyur Ramachandran, Joseph Heller (Catch-22). All I think have brains that "change states frequently/rapidly, making it disconcerting to others and (sometimes?) to oneself."
This definition is a bit more specific than "a brain that is aware that it doesn't always function quite the way one wants it too/expects it too, and has learned/is learning that that is actually a feature rather than a bug." And emphasizes a little less how it is experienced by the person her/him self. That seems to me useful, particularly for thinking a bit more about whether slippery brain is a "feature or a bug."
Unpredictablity can be disconcerting to others, as well as to oneself. It may be for this reason that slippery brain sometimes brings to mind "frivolous," "doesn't take things seriously," "unfocused," "lack of stick-to-it-iveness," and the like. Slippery brained people though can, as per the list above, be quite serious, single-minded, and productive, sometimes unusually so. They don't display the kinds of processes that one usually associated with such outcomes but clearly can, in their own odd way, achieve them.
That the process is mysterious to others, and perhaps even to the possessors of slippery brains, may help to explain why slippery brain is often associated with some degree of self-doubt and of frustration with oneself. How does one know whether the "jumping around" is a reflection of productive multiple interests as opposed to a fear of failure, or some other reluctance to commit oneself to a task? Particularly if important people around one give one to believe that there is something wrong with "jumping around" or discourage it in other ways (by ignoring it, by trying to take over particular interests). Hence the feature or bug question.
For what its worth, more than fifty years of personal experience with slippery brain have persuaded me it is actually a feature rather than a bug, or at least can be if one can get by the associated tendencies to frustration with and doubt about oneself. Slippery brain allows one to make connections in ways that are harder or impossible to make without it, and those connections are often, once recognized, quite useful both to oneself and to others. One needs to be patient with oneself to discover that, not allow either onself or others to judge prematurely how one is doing, or even what one is doing. If one can do that, one discovers that slippery brain isn't something to be fixed but rather something to be valued.
self-mystification
"That the process is mysterious to others, and perhaps even to the possessors of slippery brains, may help to explain why slippery brain is often associated with some degree of self-doubt and of frustration with oneself. "
...an example:
I have for several years experienced a certain fear of writing, which varies in intensity, and which is evoked when I am given (or set myself) a particular writing task - say, an essay. This fear has been debilitating at times, although I was also able to overcome it quite successfully while in graduate school. There is a discrepancy between my academic track record and my self-confidence as a writer; contrary to most people's expectations, the fact that I have written successful essays in the past does not soothe my self-doubt in the present. I believe that this is at least in part because my own process is "mysterious" to me. I do not know, cannot model, what my writing process is, and so each successful endeavor feels like a fluke to me. I cannot reassure myself that my method, if I even have one, will continue to work for me, and so I approach each new task as though it were my first, uncertain whether I will be able to complete it or not. The result is that writing often becomes all-consuming because I have to devote all my time/energy to it lest I fail to finish. Needless to say, this robs writing of its fun.
I suppose the task is to develop faith in my own process, even if it remains a mystery to me.
discovering/creating writing
Yep, think the key (as opposed to "task') is indeed "to develop my own faith in the process, even if it remains a mystery to me." And so to allow "writing" to evolve. There have been several dramatic episodes of "fear of writing" in my life. And they all, in hindsight, had to do with a conflict between my sense of what "writing" is supposed to be and things on my mind that didn't seem communicable in that mode. That eased as I explored new voices/ways of writing ... and stopped feeling I had to write on demand. Its easier to write when the unconscious has something to say ... and one has evolved ways to let it say things in ways appropriate to what it wants to say.
"slippery brain"
Googled slippery brain, found a few things, aside from stuff originating here...
On a forum
Post subject: Ever feel like your brain is a slippery bar of soap?
There are days when it seems like if I try to hold onto a thought, it goes
shooting off to some nether land. The harder I try to hold the thought,
the faster it slips away. Or if I'm listening to someone talk, and concentrating
very hard to catch the important parts of the conversation, some kind of
static interferes so I miss the key elements of the point that person was
making, then once again I am conversationally lost. I don't think this is a
memory problem, something interferes with my ability to understand what
the other person is saying.
Reply: The "slippery brain" feeling doesn't seem to be connected to fatigue, as far as I can tell. I think it's more of an attention deficit problem...
Somewhere else...
Brains should matter for all academics. In brawn, horsepower of any kind will always be superior. As human species, we may not have the biggest brains in relative or absolute terms, but we certainly have the best. We should never forget, however, that this superior brainpower does not only let academics excel, it is just as responsible for the best CEOs, the best artists, the best sport champions – even for the most efficient and atrocious criminals. Therefore, just battling for brains may not be enough. It must be the right brains, and these do not come freely and ready-made by mother Nature. We cannot simply breed them, we have to nurture, to educate and to hone them, far from only battling for them... We all know that creative minds (rather than slippery brain masses) are the true bottleneck for scientific and economic innovation.
Just thought I'd let you guys know...
After the meeting last night I felt motivated to film more and write down more ideas. I don't know if I feel motivated today, but I don't feel as guilty about it after the discussion :)
Fantastic! Less guilt = more
Fantastic! Less guilt = more slippery fun.
first steps
Thanks everyone for a stimulating discussion last night, due in no small part to the common willingness to share personal stories.
After tracking the history of the term "slippery brain" and considering what it does/does not imply (e.g., does not equal "flaky"), the consensus seems to be that it would be interesting/rewarding/helpful to search for literature by and/or about other slippery brains, and to see if we can learn how others have come to live with their slippery brainedness.
To that end, we agreed to start off with the book recommended by Paul, A Mind Apart by Susanne Antonetta. Our next meeting is tentatively planned for early August in the Chemistry Lounge (thanks to Julia!).
In the meantime, more thoughts about fluctuations in mood, self regard, energy level, interests...and the relationships between them?
Our Mascot is Prozac the Toad!
A toad is a bit like a slippry brain...
Have you ever tried to catch a toad? I suspect it might be easier if there were massive amounts of stimulants in your blood stream. Under those circumstances your nervous system might be able to generate the sort of random leaps, hops, and spins of an anxious amphibian. Its unconscious creates insane combinations of vectors and momentum to rival the best random computer errors. A little bundle of scared confused chaos covered with slimy skin. Bumps abound on its lumpy body; even its legs have delicate curves. This is a polar coordinate system, no straight lines here! Clasping a toad between closed fingers is a precarious balance. If held too tightly, the force could injure the captured creature. Not for a squeamish person are the irritating secretions of a scared toad. But a toad’s bid for freedom might become a suicidal jump. It desires a different environment; one filled with crickets, flies, and soft dirt. A place to create and alter a labyrinth of holes; a home. That gentle pulsing life is a simple gift temporary and precious.
I'll be there and I'm
I'll be there and I'm bringing my brother just this once. Currently I'm reading:
A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness by V.S. Ramachandran
and
The Science of Happiness by Stephen Braun
both of which are very interesting. See you tonight!
Inaugural meeting
How is Monday night for everyone? Say, the first Monday evening of the month?
Any suggestions re: location? Is there a lounge of sorts available to us at Bryn Mawr?
July 6, 7:00 PM, Petrology
...hope to see you there.
I would definitely be
I would definitely be interested in a participating! Not entirely sure whether or not it is a symptom of slippery brain, but I love reading. Actually, any big powerful ideas that can carry my thoughts away are appealing to my mind. The abstract or intellectual equivalent of a horse...
book suggestion: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. by Kay Redfield Jamison
in sodality
Sign me up. "Slippery brain" = a brain that is aware that it doesn't always function quite the way one wants it too/expects it too, and has learned/is learning that that is actually a feature rather than a bug.
Maybe start out with our own stories of discovery, move from that to relevant published stories/explorations of other people? For when we get to that stage, perhaps Susanne Antonetta's A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World? Antonetta herself has a bipolar brain and the book is an interesting account of her life with a host of other slippery brains of various kinds. It was also my first encounter with the notion of "neurodiversity" (in appealing contrast to "neurotypical," a concept developed within the autistic community that seems to me much more generally useful).
On another occasion, you
On another occasion, you offered an alternative definition of "slippery brain" (and I paraphrase): a brain that changes states frequently/rapidly, making it disconcerting to others and (sometimes?) to oneself.
A Mind Apart sounds intriguing. Also like idea of starting with our own stories. Let's take a poll...
I posted this once, so I'm
I posted this once, so I'm terribly sorry if Serendip posts it again.
I'd love to join! Grobstein insinuates that I have a very "story teller dominated" brain, which I don't doubt; I might make an interesting contributor because of it! In any case, it's all about learning!
I'd love to hear more about
I'd love to hear more about what a "story-teller dominated brain" feels like. Welcome :)
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