On December 19th Culture Circle hosted “How we experience the world”, a lively and interactive event with neuroscientist Shubha Tole. Dr. Tole is a neuroscientist and Dean of Graduate Studies at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai where her research focuses on the development and evolution of the mammalian brain. She described our brain as THE most fascinating part of our bodies, because it allows us to question our own existence. She explained that artists, scientists and philosophers are all seeking answers to the same questions: Who are we? and even possibly Why are we here?
In her talk, she brought out how our brain circuitry enables us to experience the world, and at the same time limits us by its constraints. Using interactive visual, auditory, and thought-experiments, Dr. Tole showed us how context changes our perception, and how our senses are limited and can be “fooled,” so we should take everything we think we “know” keeping this in mind. Her own perspective gave food for thought: there is so much we cannot easily see and don’t yet know, and this is as humbling as it is exciting. Scientists seek to discover ways to see and know more, and therefore to be a scientist is to be open-minded about the unknown.
