Delusions Of Intelligence

Publisher Description

Approaches the psychopathology of schizophrenia from the perspective of its symptoms rather than the global syndrome. Each chapter, by a recognized authority in the field, covers definition, measurement, frequency of occurrence, a review of clinical and experimental findings leading to current theories regarding the causes of the symptom, its functional relationship to other schizophrenic symptoms and implications for clinical practice.

“[Fine’s] sharp tongue is tempered with humor. . . . Read this book and see how complex and fascinating the whole issue is.”—The New York Times It’s the twenty-first century, and although we tried to rear unisex children—boys who play with dolls and girls who like trucks—we failed. Even though the glass ceiling is cracked, most women stay comfortably beneath it. And everywhere we hear about vitally important “hardwired” differences between male and female brains. The neuroscience that we read about in magazines, newspaper articles, books, and sometimes even scientific journals increasingly tells a tale of two brains, and the result is more often than not a validation of the status quo. Women, it seems, are just too intuitive for math; men too focused for housework. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, Cordelia Fine debunks the myth of hardwired differences between men’s and women’s brains, unraveling the evidence behind such claims as men’s brains aren’t wired for empathy and women’s brains aren’t made to fix cars. She then goes one step further, offering a very different explanation of the dissimilarities between men’s and women’s behavior. Instead of a “male brain” and a “female brain,” Fine gives us a glimpse of plastic, mutable minds that are continuously influenced by cultural assumptions about gender. Passionately argued and unfailingly astute, Delusions of Gender provides us with a much-needed corrective to the belief that men’s and women’s brains are intrinsically different—a belief that, as Fine shows with insight and humor, all too often works to the detriment of ourselves and our society.

We live in an incredible period in history. The Computer Revolution may be even more life-changing than the Industrial Revolution. We can do things with computers that could never be done before, and computers can do things for us that could never be done before. But our love of computers should not cloud our thinking about their limitations. We are told that computers are smarter than humans and that data mining can identify previously unknown truths, or make discoveries that will revolutionize our lives. Our lives may well be changed, but not necessarily for the better. Computers are very good at discovering patterns, but are useless in judging whether the unearthed patterns are sensible because computers do not think the way humans think. We fear that super-intelligent machines will decide to protect themselves by enslaving or eliminating humans. But the real danger is not that computers are smarter than us, but that we think computers are smarter than us and, so, trust computers to make important decisions for us. The AI Delusion explains why we should not be intimidated into thinking that computers are infallible, that data-mining is knowledge discovery, and that black boxes should be trusted.

The authors contend that delusion is a form of intelligence that erupts when the individual is overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life and cannot find an exact cause. While often harmless, it can lead to chaos, disorganization and conduct dangerous to self and/or others. The individual enters into a state called delusional disorder, the most common of which is the persecutory type, where he (or she) believes that he is being persecuted by others, and must take protective action. The situation is worsened when the individual discovers that no one confirms his belief. Delusional disorder now takes over with a vengeance. At this point the individual enters fully into a state of negation, by which is meant that he transfers his torment to those he believes have been torturing him. The transfer seems to accomplish a miracle. Lo and behold: As if by magic the individual is freed from personal torment. Whereas before he hated himself and his tormenters, now he no longer accepts personal responsibility; only his tormentors are at fault. It is a marvelous accomplishment, this process, were it not for the fact that the result--at least from the point of view of an interested observer--is catastrophic, because the profound symptoms of delusional disorder appear as a means to reinforce unconsciousness. The authors attempt to make their case from several viewpoints, preponderantly using the clinical essay. The book should be of value to anyone interested in or associated with the fields of psychology or psychiatry.

This book is a 'hidden' history of Bletchley Park during the Second World War, which explores the agency from a social and gendered perspective. It examines themes such as: the experience of wartime staff members; the town in which the agency was situated; and the cultural influences on the wartime evolution of the agency.