Free yourself from your neurons

Perhaps the majority of humanity's members are hotwired to be followers, rather than leaders. "Back in 1996, some Italian scientists wanted to study how the neurons in monkey brains planned and carried out movements," notes Collision Detection blogger Clive Thompson.

"So they put probes into the monkeys and began monitoring their cerebral activity. Then something weird happened: A student came into the lab with an ice cream cone, and, while the monkeys watched, lifted it to his mouth. Simultaneously, the monkeys' movement neurons all began firing. It was as if the monkeys themselves were lifting the cone to their own mouths.

"The scientists had discovered "mirror neurons" -- specialized brain cells that fire mimetically whenever an animal or human witnesses a movement.... As Giacomo Rizzolatti, one of the Italian neuroscientists who made the discovery, puts it: 'Mirror neurons allow us to grasp the minds of others not through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation. By feeling, not by thinking.' People who rank high on empathy scales tend to have particularly active mirror-neuron clusters in their brains.

"But here's where things get interesting. If our mirror neurons 'learn' behavior by watching it, what happens when we view violent or pornographic media? ... 'a study in the January 2006 issue of Media Psychology found that when children watched violent television programs, mirror neurons, as well as several brain regions involved in aggression were activated, increasing the probability that the children would behave violently.'" And if you're watching porn, more mirror neurons.

Yet again, the anti-porn crowd is going to demand that we ban everything but the kitchen sink, instead of teaching us to take charge of our brains and think through emotional responses. Dooming us all to be followers forever.