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At a science conference, neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran presented to the people in attendance. He told a strange story of a patient whose half rain was an atheist while the other was a believer. Before we carry on with this, we must go back in time.

Epilepsy

In the old days, scientists concluded that to treat epilepsy, they must disconnect the right side of the brain from the left side by cutting a part of the brain called "Corpus Callosum". And for 40 years, that was the direction the medical world took to treat epilepsy.

It might sound cruel but it did reduce epilepsy symptoms by a lot. It should be noted that epilepsy happens randomly. One man had it while working at a bakery, causing him to suffer from severe burns. Epilepsy is uncontrollable.

The Terrifying Result

When you think about it, it is terrifying to separate your brain into two sides. When half of a brain doesn't know what the other half is doing is rather terrifying. Some people would spend hours trying to do simple tasks because the bridge between the two sides of the brain doesn't exist anymore. There's also a possibility of one brain conspiring against the other.

How Does A Brain Work

The left side of the brain is in charge of the right side of the body. While the right side of the brain is in charge of the left side of the body. By disconnecting the two parts, either side of the brain remains unaware of what the other side is doing. Simply put, it's like having two people sharing one body.

You could go to a store to buy a jacket and find each side picking something different to buy while remaining unaware of what the other side picked. There's no communication between the two sides.

Ramachandran Experiments

Ramachandran introduced the idea of communication with each part separately by whispering into the left ear to communicate with the right side of the brain. And whispering into the right ear to communicate with the left side of the brain since as stated earlier, each side of the brain is responsible for the opposite side of the body.

Where It Gets Complicated

It's not like the two sides of the brain have the exact same functions. What exists on one side of a brain, doesn't exist on the other. The left side of the brain is in charge of the language center of the brain. In other words, it's the human media center. Therefore, the left side of the brain controls the mouth.

The left side of the brain controls the language and therefore the mouth in most cases. It is the only side that is heard and listened to. Leaving the right side without an expression outlet.

That's why Ramachandran resorted to whispering and putting a pen and paper in the left hand and getting his answers from the right side of the brain by writing. Now, with the left side of the brain controlling the language, the right side could only answer in the form of true, false, or I don't know.

That's where we get to the shocking surprise, while the left side of the brain was a believer, the right side was an atheist. Such a surprise opens room for a lot of philosophical questions.

How do such opposite sides of the brain share one body? Ramachandran's experience leaves me with a question I would like to pass to all of you:

Which Side Of The Brain Resembles That Person?