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THE WRITTEN WORD, EVOLUTION AND THE RIGHT BRAIN: RETURN OF THE GODDESS
Guest: Leonard Shlain, M.D. Program 2940
Host: Michael Toms Interview Date: 5/8/2002 Program Length: 1 Hour
Media:
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Price: $1.99
Program Description: Most of us are enchanted by the written word, and in western culture, literacy is a given high regard. Yet, author Leonard Shlain, M.D, believes that when the alphabet and the rise of literacy replaced the oral tradition, cultures went through a period of madness. Women, goddesses and sacred images suffered the most. He contends that when reading and writing were introduced, the left hemisphere of the brain became dominant at the expense of the right, and says, "Up to now we've been so enamored with our text culture that we never question the price we paid." However, with the advances in image technology, Shlain thinks we are witnessing the dawn of a new language, which is reintroducing the voice of the right hemisphere. "I hear a lot of talk about how we're destroying life as we know it. How about a different scenario that we are in the process of evolving into something different?" 1 hr.
He is the author of Image Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light (Quill 1993) and The Alphabet Versus The Goddess: The Conflict Between Word (Arkana 1999). He is chief of laparoscopic surgery at San Francisco's California-Pacific Medical Center. To learn more about the work of Leonard Shlain go to www.sextimeandpower.com
Topics explored in this dialogue:
How communication changes when written
How image technology is related to the return of the feminine
How the development of language has affected human evolution
How the introduction of the alphabet is connected to environmental degradation
Why the Age of Reason was destructive to future generations
