“We live in a paradox in which digital tech alleviates social isolation in some ways even as it worsens it in others. It may be fashioning wholly new brain pathways for good or ill in ways we neither notice nor can predict. While we are technically more connected to one another than ever before, we bond on media platforms engineered to make outrage and indignation infectious. They exploit the psychological principle that emotion, like yawning, is highly contagious.” ~ Richard Cytowic, “Digital Distractions: Energy Drain and Your Brain on Screens”

Plutopia’s Maggie Duval interviews Richard Cytowic. Richard is best known for having rediscovered synesthesia — the automatic cross–coupling of the senses — and returning it to mainstream science after decades of obscurity. His work bridges the gap between art and science. His book Wednesday Is Indigo Blue received the Montaigne Medal and is a book Oliver Sacks called “a unique and indispensable guide for anyone interested in how we perceive the world.” Dr. Cytowic is Professor of Neurology at George Washington University in Washington DC. This Plutopia interview is a fascinating discussion of the brain, including the impact of contemporary communications technologies on thinking, perception and attention.

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