Saturday, August 02, 2008
Prove Me Wrong if You Can
(1)
I should know better. I had read the previous post cluster before signing off Thursday night and had satisfied myself that it was safe to read totally sober. I had then made it a point to remember that fact. And I remembered it! I read it sober today, confirming my drunken judgement of Thursday night. And yet, after rereading those posts today I was somehow not quite satisfied. Something seemed to be missing: the buzz. The posts were not quite as funny as I had remembered them. So I dropped a 16-ouncer of Coors light, then reread the series. Much funnier! (I actually did the first beer at the end of my cooking turn; Kootch and I then did our usual (recorded) Millionaire while she ate supper, during which I began my second 16-ouncer. I finished that beer at the computer.)
I had noticed this effect before: I am much funnier when drunk. Why? (Hmm... I need to do a blurb on this subject... But I suspect it has something to do with the way our brains work. Here is my conjecture in a nutshell:)
Booze ( and other drugs) affect the brain globally, which is to say equally; however, the left brain is overworked as a result of the rapid advances in human intercommunication over the last 40 thousand years or so. The right brain, meanwhile, has enjoyed a relatively free ride, concerning itself mostly with 'big picture thinking and emotional thinking.' The rapid evolution of Homo Sapiens has essentially overwhelmed the Left hemisphere while at the same time leaving the right hemisphere free to 'enjoy.' Somehow, the left brain became the dominant brain, and the right brain became the 'gravy brain.' The left brain works; the right brain enjoys. The fact that 'emotion preceeds logic' reflects the situation whereby the massivly connected right brain can instantly overwhelm the overworked areas of the left brain, in a situation which, time and again, resulted in species survival. The right brain rules, but the left brain does most of the work, most of the time.
I should know better. I had read the previous post cluster before signing off Thursday night and had satisfied myself that it was safe to read totally sober. I had then made it a point to remember that fact. And I remembered it! I read it sober today, confirming my drunken judgement of Thursday night. And yet, after rereading those posts today I was somehow not quite satisfied. Something seemed to be missing: the buzz. The posts were not quite as funny as I had remembered them. So I dropped a 16-ouncer of Coors light, then reread the series. Much funnier! (I actually did the first beer at the end of my cooking turn; Kootch and I then did our usual (recorded) Millionaire while she ate supper, during which I began my second 16-ouncer. I finished that beer at the computer.)
I had noticed this effect before: I am much funnier when drunk. Why? (Hmm... I need to do a blurb on this subject... But I suspect it has something to do with the way our brains work. Here is my conjecture in a nutshell:)
Booze ( and other drugs) affect the brain globally, which is to say equally; however, the left brain is overworked as a result of the rapid advances in human intercommunication over the last 40 thousand years or so. The right brain, meanwhile, has enjoyed a relatively free ride, concerning itself mostly with 'big picture thinking and emotional thinking.' The rapid evolution of Homo Sapiens has essentially overwhelmed the Left hemisphere while at the same time leaving the right hemisphere free to 'enjoy.' Somehow, the left brain became the dominant brain, and the right brain became the 'gravy brain.' The left brain works; the right brain enjoys. The fact that 'emotion preceeds logic' reflects the situation whereby the massivly connected right brain can instantly overwhelm the overworked areas of the left brain, in a situation which, time and again, resulted in species survival. The right brain rules, but the left brain does most of the work, most of the time.
