{"id":52186,"date":"2021-03-25T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T17:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/?p=52186"},"modified":"2024-02-29T07:59:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T15:59:49","slug":"shankar-vedantam-shines-a-light-on-the-hidden-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/shankar-vedantam-shines-a-light-on-the-hidden-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Shankar Vedantam Shines a Light on the Hidden Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shankar\u00a0<\/em>Vedantam<\/em>\u00a0and Brian Greene will be the keynote speakers for Town Hall\u2019s annual gala fundraiser taking place on April\u00a0<\/em>9 at 7PM<\/em>\u00a0P<\/em>D<\/em>T.\u00a0<\/em>They\u2019ll<\/em>\u00a0be discussing the meaning in an evolving universe. The event will be a real-time virtual celebration.<\/em>\u00a0Tickets start at just $75, and donations directly support our radically accessible ticket prices.<\/em>\u00a0More<\/em>\u00a0information can be found\u00a0<\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our brains are mysterious.<\/strong> There are as many neurons in the brain as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0a lot of neurons.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0much we don\u2019t know about what goes on inside our noggins. How do neurons talk to each other? How does the brain compute? Heck, we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0even quite know what the brain is actually made up of.<\/p>\n

Knowing how much we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know, it\u2019s no surprise there\u2019s\u00a0plenty in our brains that\u00a0remain hidden. Shankar\u00a0Vedantam<\/strong> is doing his part to shine a light on that. He joins us twice this month; first as a special guest at our virtual gala on 4\/9<\/a> and then alongside KUOW’s Ross Reynolds on 4\/13<\/a> for a talk about the power & paradox of the self-deceiving brain. Vedantam\u00a0is a writer and\u00a0correspondent who uses journalism and research to inform the public on social science issues.\u00a0A lecturer at Harvard University and Columbia University,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0most known for his\u00a0Hidden Brain<\/em>\u00a0book\u00a0published in 2010 and the subsequent\u00a0podcast\u00a0and radio program.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0been on\u00a0NPR<\/a> since 2015.\u00a0Shankar likes to focus on the effects of unconscious bias in everyday life.<\/p>\n

Whether it be the rituals of\u00a0how we eat pizza<\/a>,\u00a0the relative happiness of\u00a0winning the bronze medal<\/a>,\u00a0or\u00a0eating cupcakes<\/a>\u00a0after working out,\u00a0Vedantam\u00a0showcases how our mundane day-to-day activities might not be so mundane after all. Indeed, our unconscious patterns drive our human\u00a0behavior\u00a0and those biases shape our choices, and those choices trigger actions that change the course of our relationships with others. This is to say,\u00a0Vedantam\u00a0teaches a lot about our brains by using his.<\/p>\n