Sunday, May 17, 2015

Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

  The human brain is the greatest gift we have been given. In the span of approximately 125,000 years, with the help of our intelligence, we have evolved and developed. However, the study of the brain has only started recently. The ability of our brain to be creative has led to many artistic creations. One way people try to unleash their creative potential is through the use of recreational drugs.
  Albert Hoffman's synthesis of LSD, which causes hallucinations and kaleidoscopic images, made him see and imagine things that cannot happen without the use of drugs (Vesna, pt 3). These kind of drugs are a way for artists to "think outside the box." Whether the use of drugs should be allowed is not something I want to debate about, but it is hard to deny that many famous artists have used them to help them in their crafts (Frazzetto).
  Between the years of 1979 and 1987 when Stephen King wrote 22 novels that were sent to the publisher, King was under the influence of cocaine (Listverse). Many of the Beatles' songs were written under the influence of LSD including "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (FinerMinds). King and Beatles are a few of the many who used drugs to help them create "masterpieces."
  The tinkering of our brain is quite interesting. Drugs may have harmful or beneficial effects depending on the way we perceive it. For an example, can we consider the notion that drugs are used to "control" certain parts of our brain in order to do things we can't possibly do without the help of drugs. We invented airplanes to fly, rockets to travel to outer space, and morphine to stop pain. These are ethical issues and I particularly am indifferent about the use of drugs for recreational purposes. 









Citations:

"5 Famous & Iconic Drug Users That Inspired The World." FinerMinds. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015.

"10 Literary Figures With Crippling Drug Addictions - Listverse." Listverse. N.p., 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 May 2015.

Frazzetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience Nat Rev Neurosci 10.11 (2009): n. pag. Web. 17 May 2015.

Korte, Travis. "The Influence of Drugs in Art History." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Unit 7." DESMA 9. United States, Los Angeles. 17 May 2015. Lecture

 
  

1 comment:

  1. It is interesting to think about drug use and art. I wonder then, if drugs can be considered an art? These ideas are very controversial, but I think it raises quite a few very interesting questions and forces us to think about if there really are limits to human creativity and boundaries on what should be considered art.

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