Shallows chapter 2

The title of this chapter is “The Vital Paths.” Is Carr referring to literal paths, figurative paths, or both? Explain your answer in two to five sentences

Friedrich Nietzsche is a philosopher best known for such works as “The Birth of Tragedy,” “All Too Human,” “The Gay Science,” also known as “The Joyful Wisdom,” and “The Genealogy of Morals.” In these works and others, he explains the idea of abandoning all forms of religion, especially Christianity, and finding fulfillment in other things. According to the information presented in the video below, Nietzsche did not attain to a personal sense of fulfillment and happiness, despite his efforts to define morality and purpose outside of the Christian faith. With what did he suggest people replace Christianity?

https://youtu.be/wHWbZmg2hzU 

In Section II of Chapter Two, Carr introduces another famous thinker who was living in Genoa, Italy, at the same time as Nietzsche and Koselitz, researching the nervous systems of fish and crustaceans. Who was this person?

In Section II paragraph 1, two ideas new to scientific thought are mentioned. The first is that the brain is made up of cells. The second is that the space between the cells is where what two activities take place?

Paragraph two of Section II states, “Thoughts, memories, emotions – all emerge from the electrochemical interactions of neurons, mediated by synapses.” What does this mean about the earliest stages of embryonic development in mammals whose brains have not yet fully developed but in whom electric activity is detected?

In Section II, paragraph 8 of Chapter 2, Carr refers to the Industrial Age, which took place in in the late 1700s and early 1800s in America. He uses the metaphor of the brain and a mechanical contraption. According to this comparison, what happens to the whole brain if one part changes in shape or function?

Use this site to learn about Descartes’s idea of dualism, called Cartesian dualism. Write in one sentence what Cartesian dualism is. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/

Watch this TED Talk by Michael Merzenich who is featured in Section II of chapter two. Summarize his findings about plasticity. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_growing_evidence_of_brain_plasticity?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

According to this talk, why did Eric Kandel decide to work with snails to learn about neural plasticity? https://youtu.be/zuZjOwd7HLk

All of these experts, stories, illustrations, examples, and explanations work together to establish Carr’s idea that a person’s brain, including both physical and functional processes, can change as a result of behavioral and environmental factors. Do you think Carr has done a good job supporting his idea? Are you convinced that the Internet can affect you personally, mentally, and anatomically, based on the proof Carr has provided in Chapter 2?