'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Tuesday 9 November 2010

The Brain

It has been said that our brain can never understand itself. It's a bit like trying to pull yourself up by your own boot-straps, or licking your elbow... or something.

Here, in my opinion, is a wonderful little clip showing how tricky it is. If you understand this, please explain in the comments box.


9 comments:

  1. Thank you for clearing that up. I have always known instinctively that E=IIR, though, because it is intuitively obvious that neither EIIR can be true, for otherwise a House of Hanover/Saxe-Coburg-Gotha/Windsor-Mountbatten divided against itself cannot stand.

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  2. Don't understand but two words of it. Am I supposed to?
    A great pity Ronnie Barker never recorded a version, they would be great back to back.

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  3. Gosh, Adrian! Which two words? I didn't even manage that many.

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  4. My first comment got garbled because I used a "less than" and a "greater than" sign in it which Blogger interpreted as containing an HTML instruction. What is said (using words now) was, "...because neither E is less than IIR nor E is greater than IIR can be true, for otherwise..."

    Blogger's brain has not yet been explained by John Cleese or anyone else.

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  5. I think I had a professor who talked like this. Not sure, I was sleeping.

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  6. Robert - I did get the references to Her Royal Highness...
    Adrian & Geeb - I listened to it again just now, and at the end he says "So...don't eat them."

    Violet - I had one of those too! For spatial and urban geography.

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  7. Wonderful jibberish - I think!

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  8. Ben Bongers21.11.10

    Hersenen zijn wonderlijk spul, waardoor het verklaren van de werking meer grijze cellen vraagt dan menigeen heeft. Alleen een genie als John Cleese kan het zo helder uitleggen

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  9. Hersenen zijn inderdaad prachtige dingen, Ben!

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