Today, let us be mind readers. The University of
Houston's College of Engineering presents this
series about the machines that make our
civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity
created them.
Science writer
Carl Zimmer poses the following situation: Billy
stops by the store to buy a candy bar on the way
home from school. At home, he settles down on the
couch to eat the candy while he watches TV. Then
his mother comes in to say he must first go out and
rake the leaves. Billy stashes the candy behind a
couch pillow and goes out to do his chore.
Then his sister comes in to watch TV. She moves the
couch pillow and finds the candy bar. She grabs it
and hides it in the bookcase so she can
eat it when the coast is clear. Billy finally
finishes his work and returns to his long-awaited
chocolate bar.
Now, Zimmer asks, "Where will Billy look for it?"
That sounds like a trick question, but it's not. Of
course, he'll look behind the couch pillow. But,
Zimmer points out, if you describe this situation
to a very young child, you'll get the answer, "In
the bookcase." That's obviously where the candy
is.
The point is that you and I have developed a
remarkable ability: We don't follow the candy; we
follow Billy's mind. We read his mind. As
psychologists put it, we form a theory of the
mind. Chimpanzees and other animals do
remarkable things; but as yet it seems that the
only creatures who can read intentions are
we humans.
As biologists
study parts of the brain where we process our
readings of intention, they find that the evolution
of language also requires that ability. To
understand language, says one psychologist, we must
know what people intend when they refer to
things.
The condition of autism arises when those special
portions of the brain don't function properly. The
root difficulty faced by an autistic person is
difficulty in reading the intentions of others.
Mind-reading, in this sense, is a glorious gift --
one that some people hone to an exquisite edge. The
public entertainer whom I find most loathsome is
one, blessed with this gift, who claims to transmit
messages from the spirit world to audience members.
That person displays an extraordinary ability to
grasp what someone is thinking from very
fragmentary evidence.
So, if this gift is magnificent, it can also be so
easily misused. I tried the question of Billy and
his candy bar on a colleague. He said it reminded
him of a primary meaning of the word
innocent, and that is
not-knowing. An innocent is one who has
yet to be corrupted by knowledge. No wonder a small
child will misread Billy's search for the candy
bar.
So, we'll keep trying to read each other's
intentions. But another psychologist points out
that, for centuries, we've believed
self-awareness to be what separates us
from animals. Now the ability to read intentions
appears to be the unique human attribute. Put that
ability into the hands of people who haven't
developed the quality of self-reflection, and,
perhaps, that is where we humans stand in the
greatest danger of behaving badly.
I'm John Lienhard, at the University of Houston,
where we're interested in the way inventive minds
work.
(Theme music)
C. Zimmer, How the Mind Reads Other Minds.
Science, Vol. 300, 16 May, 2003, pp.
1079-1080.
Reading emotions and intentions (clipart, 19th
century)
The Engines of Our Ingenuity is
Copyright © 1988-2003 by John H.
Lienhard.
