Neurophilosophy

I’ve never felt inclined to get involved in these ‘memes’, which seem to be ubiquitous at the moment, but I’ve been tagged by Sandy to post nine things about myself. The rules are: (1) mention the person who tagged you; (2) mention 9 things about yourself; and (3) tag 6 other people.

Generally I don’t write about personal stuff, but here goes…

• The two people who have had the greatest influence on my life are my father and my A Level Psychology lecturer. My father was a journalist. In the 1950s, aged 19, he was imprisoned for his political views by Gamal abd-el Nasser’s regime, along with other journalists and intellectuals who criticized the government, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was, and still is, the biggest opposition party in Egypt. During his 5 years in prison, he was subjected to torture, and his eyes were severely damaged. Inmates were not allowed to have pens, paper, or chess sets. Nevertheless, my father and other journalists he was locked up with published a daily newspaper that they distributed amongst the rest of the prisoners. It was written on bedsheets using pens made from bars of soap. Chess pieces were sculpted from the sun-dried, hardened insides of loaves of bread, and the boards drawn on the floor (presumably with the soap pens). For me, my father epitomizes human resilience. He taught me to play chess when I was about 3 years old; little did I know the dire conditions under which he had played the game. My father sadly died about 6 years ago, before meeting his first grandson (my son, who was born in February of last year). One of my biggest regrets is not talking with him more about his life and work. Despite having less than 15% vision, he spent his life reading and writing. He would work for 16 hours a day, or more; I have vivid memories of him crouched over his desk, reading and writing with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass. The legacy my father left me was a love of books. He loved to read and write, as I do. He wrote more than 50 books, most of them about Middle Eastern politics; when he died he left three completed but unpublished manuscripts on his desk. I inherited his library, which contains 3,000 or more volumes on every subject imaginable. I met my A Level psychology lecturer when I went to further education college in 1990. He was extremely skeptical about psychology, and preferred to teach us about brains rather than minds. From him, I learnt about such fascinating things as split brain patients, and it was largely due to him that I went on to read neuroscience at university. At the time he was teaching me, I had little interest in my studies. I was 16 years old, and had been rebelling for some time against the high expectations my parents had of me. It was only later that I realized just how big his influence on me was.
• I was born in Cairo and came to London in 1979, aged 4. My father had come to Britain for medical treatment, and was followed by my mother, so, for the first few years of my life, I was raised by my maternal grandmother.
• I am an athiest. I would like to believe in an afterlife, but do not. I was born into the Coptic Orthodox church, which was established in Egypt in the first century A.D., and, as far as I know, is the oldest (and the most conservative!) church in the world. The Copts claim a direct line of descent from the pharaohs.
• I have travelled widely. In my time, I’ve visited most countries in Europe. I’ve been to Australia twice and the U.S. once. I’ve also been to Cuba, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
• If I was more mathematically-minded, I would have been an astronomer. Star-gazing never ceases to fill me with awe, and sometimes I wish I was on a one-way journey into space.
• I love reading, watching films and listening to music, and have eclectic tastes in all three.
• I hate shopping, unless it’s for books, films, or music.
• One of my favourite meals is a cooked English breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans and toast (chips and black pudding optional).
• I have a pessimistic view of human nature, and usually prefer observing people to interacting with them.

And there you have it. You can read more about me here. I’m tagging Dan at Migrations, Dave at Cognitive Daily, Scott at Acephalous, Alun at Archaeoastronomy, George at Sentient Developments and Ali Eteraz.