{"id":18302,"date":"2024-12-13T09:02:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T10:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18302"},"modified":"2024-12-13T10:29:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T10:29:17","slug":"werner-herzogs-theater-of-thought-explores-the-mysteries-of-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18302","title":{"rendered":"Werner Herzog’s \u2018Theater of Thought\u2019 Explores the Mysteries of the Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In \u201cTheater of Thought,\u201d he talks to scientists and other experts about consciousness, quantum computing and whether parrots understand human speech.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

There\u2019s a moment in \u201cTheater of Thought\u201d (in theaters)<\/strong> when Dar\u00edo Gil, the director of research at IBM, is explaining quantum computing to Werner Herzog, the movie\u2019s director. Standing before a whiteboard, Gil draws some points on spheres to illustrate how qubits<\/a> work, then proceeds to define the Schr\u00f6dinger equation<\/a>. As he talks and writes, the audio grows quieter, and Herzog\u2019s distinctive resonant German accent takes over. \u201cI admit that I literally understand nothing of this, and I assume most of you don\u2019t either,\u201d he intones in voice-over. \u201cBut I found it fascinating that this mathematical formula explains the law that draws the subatomic world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a funny moment, a playful way to keep us from glazing over when presented with partial differential equations. Herzog may be a world-renowned filmmaker, but he\u2019s hardly a scientist, and that makes him the perfect director for \u201cTheater of Thought,\u201d a documentary about, as he puts it, the \u201cmysteries of our brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emphasis on mysteries. Herzog interviews a dizzying array of scientists, researchers, and even a Nobel Prize winner or two. He asks them about everything: how the brain works, what consciousness means, what the tiniest organisms in the world are, whether parrots understand human speech, whether rogue governments can control thoughts, whether we\u2019re living in an elaborate simulation, how telepathy and psychedelics work, and, at several points, what thinking even is. Near the end of the film he notes that not one of the scientists could explain what a thought is, or what consciousness is, but \u201cthey were all keenly alive to the ethical questions in neuroscience.\u201d In other words, they\u2019re immersed in both the mystery and what their field of study implies about the future of humanity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a boring way to make this movie, with talking-head interviews that are arranged to form a coherent argument. Herzog goes another direction, starting off by narrating why he\u2019s making it, then talking about his interviewees as we are introduced to them in their labs or in their favorite outdoor settings. (He also visits Philippe Petit<\/a>, the Twin Towers tightrope walker, as he practices in his Catskills backyard.) Herzog\u2019s constant verbal presence brings us into his own head space \u2014 his own brain, if you will \u2014 and gives us the sense that we\u2019re following his patterns of thought.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In \u201cTheater of Thought,\u201d he talks to scientists and other experts about consciousness, quantum computing and whether parrots understand human speech.There\u2019s a moment in \u201cTheater of Thought\u201d (in theaters) when Dar\u00edo Gil, the director of research at IBM, is explaining quantum computing to Werner Herzog, the movie\u2019s director. Standing before a whiteboard, Gil draws some points on spheres to illustrate how qubits work, then proceeds to define the Schr\u00f6dinger equation. As he talks and writes, the audio grows quieter, and Herzog\u2019s distinctive resonant German accent takes over. \u201cI admit that I literally understand nothing of this, and I assume most of you don\u2019t either,\u201d he intones in voice-over. \u201cBut I found it fascinating that this mathematical formula explains the law that draws the subatomic world.\u201dIt\u2019s a funny moment, a playful way to keep us from glazing over when presented with partial differential equations. Herzog may be a world-renowned filmmaker, but he\u2019s hardly a scientist, and that makes him the perfect director for \u201cTheater of Thought,\u201d a documentary about, as he puts it, the \u201cmysteries of our brain.\u201dEmphasis on mysteries. Herzog interviews a dizzying array of scientists, researchers, and even a Nobel Prize winner or two. He asks them about everything: how the brain works, what consciousness means, what the tiniest organisms in the world are, whether parrots understand human speech, whether rogue governments can control thoughts, whether we\u2019re living in an elaborate simulation, how telepathy and psychedelics work, and, at several points, what thinking even is. Near the end of the film he notes that not one of the scientists could explain what a thought is, or what consciousness is, but \u201cthey were all keenly alive to the ethical questions in neuroscience.\u201d In other words, they\u2019re immersed in both the mystery and what their field of study implies about the future of humanity.There\u2019s a boring way to make this movie, with talking-head interviews that are arranged to form a coherent argument. Herzog goes another direction, starting off by narrating why he\u2019s making it, then talking about his interviewees as we are introduced to them in their labs or in their favorite outdoor settings. (He also visits Philippe Petit, the Twin Towers tightrope walker, as he practices in his Catskills backyard.) Herzog\u2019s constant verbal presence brings us into his own head space \u2014 his own brain, if you will \u2014 and gives us the sense that we\u2019re following his patterns of thought.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18304,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18302"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18305,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18302\/revisions\/18305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}