(to electronic edition)

Twenty years have gone by since the start of this project. Notwithstanding the popularization of left brain/right brain research, and some trivialization, little has changed regarding the essential theories. It remains true that the left hemisphere is regarded as the domain of cogitation, calculation, language and sequential processing. The role of the right remains less well-articulated, possibly because explicit articulation is not in its job description. Considered the home of spatial awareness, parallel processing, intuition, and creativity, the right cerebral hemisphere might turn out to be the mothership to our cognitive enterprises. There is one reliable indication that it is essential to success: in his 2008 article Spheres of influence, neurologist Michael Gazzaniga offered new insights into hemispheric specialization -

• The left-brain interpreter makes sense out of all the other processes. It takes all the input that is coming in and puts it together in a make-sense story, even though it may be completely wrong.
• The left hemisphere...tends to falsely recognize new items when they are similar to previously presented items, presumably because they fit into the schema it has constructed.
• The right hemisphere maintains an accurate record of events, leaving the left hemisphere free to elaborate and make inferences about the material presented. In an intact brain, the two systems complement each other, allowing elaborative processing without sacrificing veracity.^*

Accepting then, that rational pathways are not guaranteed to lead to correct destinations, and that hyperdevelopment can short-circuit humans' awareness of their effect on the environment, what courses of action does the present research suggest?

1. hyperdevelopment, such as led to the collapse of the derivatives market, or to the complete decline of Easter Island society, should be vigorously opposed, in favor of conserving assets;
2. creative problem-solving, perhaps the greatest asset, should be enhanced indirectly, by providing the educational and cultural environment in which it will flourish, as opposed to technical concentrations in the service of hyperdevelopment;
3. exponential population growth, the main driver of progress and all its effects, can be curtailed. The choices for achieving this are difficult, yet there has never been greater opportunity than now in the third millennium, for avoiding outcomes that raise, as Malthus noted, the death rate: extermination, epidemic and famine. Moreover, in societies with modern economies and material comforts, reproduction rates tend to fall to replacement levels. True, the price of these comforts is resource depletion, but there is every indication that the means can be found, eventually, for reconciling human needs and nature's provenance.

* Gazzaniga, M. S. (2008). Spheres of influence, Scientific American Mind 19, 3 p33-39

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