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DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠MechanicJust published my first Substack today, and I’m excited to share it with you! It’s also available on my blog. It’s a short read, about 5 minutes long, and there’s even an audio versionToday’s post is called “Left Brain, Right Brain, Who’s the Master?” It’s a philosophical exploration of how the structure of our brains might explain the current crisis in American politics, and what we can do about it. I hope you’ll take a look and let me know what you think!<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/brain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#brain</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/psychology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#psychology</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/neurology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#neurology</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/McGilchrist" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#McGilchrist</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#trump</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/musk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#musk</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/doge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#doge</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/project2025" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#project2025</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/leftbrain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#leftbrain</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/rightbrain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#rightbrain</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/thiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#thiel</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/renegirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#renegirard</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/scapegoat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scapegoat</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/politics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#politics</a> <a href="https://neurodoctor.com/2025/03/23/left-brain-right-brain-whos-the-master/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://neurodoctor.com/2025/03/23/left-brain-right-brain-whos-the-master/</a> t

Milano University Press<a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/10febbraio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#10febbraio</a> Giornata dell'epilessia Anche <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/Dostoevskij" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Dostoevskij</a> soffriva di <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/epilessia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#epilessia</a>, come molti dei suoi personaggi.Uno studio di <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/Enthymema" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Enthymema</a> traccia una linea a partire da <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/Edipo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Edipo</a> e il parricidio fino ai protagonisti di Dostoevskji: la rappresentazione della loro epilessia segna, nella lettura di <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a>, un transfert di violenza secondo una dinamica tipica dei capri espiatori.Qui in <a href="https://mastodon.uno/tags/OpenAccess" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#OpenAccess</a>: ⬇️ <a href="https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/enthymema/article/view/20036?mtm_campaign=mastodon" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/enthymema/article/view/20036?mtm_campaign=mastodon</a>

Mark CarriganRené Girard as reductive LacanianismWith the huge caveat I’m basing this entirely <a href="https://markcarrigan.net/2025/01/12/things-hidden-the-life-and-legacy-of-rene-girard-full-length-documentary/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">on a documentary</a>, I was struck by the overlap between René Girard and Lacan’s analysis of desire. Both seek to address the question “why do we want what we want?” but Girard does it through a singular concept of mimesis, the essentially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimetic_theory" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">imitative</a> nature of desire. We want what someone else wants, perhaps imagining the happiness we impute to them will become ours if we get it. Once you give concrete examples of mimetic desire it starts to sound very Lacanian. Likewise the focus on overcoming mimetic desire, which is a similar impulse to the Lacanian clinical aim of learning to ‘enjoy your enjoyment’ rather than being trapped in the impulse to placate the Other. While he recognises this can take many forms it seems like he’s essentially trying to map desire but on a much more straight forward graph then Lacan’s famously bewildering graphs of desire 👇<a href="https://markcarrigan.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/image-7.png" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>Very interesting looking paper about this to explore later: <a href="https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/articles/a-triangle-of-thoughts-girard-freud-lacan/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/articles/a-triangle-of-thoughts-girard-freud-lacan/</a><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://markcarrigan.net/tag/desire/" target="_blank">#desire</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://markcarrigan.net/tag/rene-girard/" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a>

DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠MechanicMy comment on Word.A.Day was chosen as the “email of the week”(and I’m getting a Word.A.Day coffee cup too😊)<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/mimetic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mimetic</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/mimetic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mimetic</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/renegirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#renegirard</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/peterthiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#peterthiel</a> <a href="https://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail1171.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail1171.html</a>

DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠Mechanic<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a> Time to revisit <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/PeterThiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PeterThiel</a>’s mentorThe simplest solution to this problem of violence for early human communities was to polarize blame and hostility onto one member of the group who would be killed and interpreted as the source of conflict and hostility within the group. The transition from the violent conflict of all-against-all would be transformed into the unifying and pacifying violence of all-except-one whose death would reconcile the community together.…<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/mimetic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mimetic</a> theory, the <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/scapegoat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scapegoat</a> mechanism.<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Girard</a>

DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠Mechanic<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Authoritarianism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Authoritarianism</a> 101In a 1951 book called The True Believer, political philosopher Eric Hoffer noted that demagogues appeal to a disaffected population whose members feel they have lost the power they previously held, that they have been displaced either religiously, economically, culturally, or politically.Such people are willing to follow a leader who promises to return them to their former positions of prominence and thus to make the nation great again. But to cement their loyalty, the leader has to give them someone to hate<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/hate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#hate</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/scapegoat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scapegoat</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/renegirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#renegirard</a> <a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-13-2024" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-13-2024</a>

DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠MechanicMimesis, Violence, and <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Facebook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Facebook</a>: <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/PeterThiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PeterThiel</a>’s French ConnectionGirard’s statement: “Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and who turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires.”For <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a> (and here he differs from psychoanalysis), <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/mimesis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mimesis</a> is the process by which we learn how and what to desire. Any subject’s desire, he argues, is based on that of another subject who functions as a model, or “mediator.”<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fascism</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/christiannationalsm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#christiannationalsm</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#trump</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/jdvance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#jdvance</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/election" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#election</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/voteblue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#voteblue</a> <a href="https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/08/13/mimesis-violence-and-facebook-peter-thiels-french-connection-full-essay/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/08/13/mimesis-violence-and-facebook-peter-thiels-french-connection-full-essay/</a>

DrBob, Neurologist, 🧠Mechanicif you want to understand the Trump/JD Vance ticket you need to get to know about Peter Thiel and the French philosopher Rene Girard 🤨With JD Vance as VP, Peter Thiel would finally have Trump right where he wants him“Vance isn’t just a friend of Silicon Valley’s worst billionaires; he is their creation. Peter Thiel, the <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Billionaire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Billionaire</a> tech investor turned digital defense contractor, enabled his entire political career.”<a href="https://vmst.io/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/JDVance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#JDVance</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/PeterThiel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PeterThiel</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/ReneGirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReneGirard</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/election" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#election</a> <a href="https://vmst.io/tags/voteblue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#voteblue</a> <a href="https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2024/07/15/with-jd-vance-as-vp-peter-thiel-would-finally-have-trump-right-where-he-wants-him/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2024/07/15/with-jd-vance-as-vp-peter-thiel-would-finally-have-trump-right-where-he-wants-him/</a>

Josh RichardsonThe late René Girard, former Stanford professor of literature and mentor to Peter Thiel … “Girardianism has become a secret doctrine of a strange new frontier in reactionary thought." ⁦‪@KnowYrEnemyPod‬⁩ <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434?i=1000646973799" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434?i=1000646973799</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/philosophy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#philosophy</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/politics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#politics</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/conservatism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#conservatism</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a>

-0--1-<a href="https://scholar.social/@ashedryden" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@ashedryden</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PeterTheil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PeterTheil</a> ascribes to a belief system called <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/MemeticTheory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#MemeticTheory</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ChristianAnthropology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ChristianAnthropology</a> which was first written about by <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a>. Here are other <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/spreaders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#spreaders</a> of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/PatientZero" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PatientZero</a>

Cécile Le Chevalier🏺 <a href="https://mastodon.mim-libre.fr/tags/Podcast" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Podcast</a> | Anthropologie & littérature🔶 Pour redécouvrir les liens profonds qui unissent littérature, violence et sacré, France Culture propose une série de 9 émissions sur l’œuvre de <a href="https://mastodon.mim-libre.fr/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a>, qui explorent notamment sa théorie mimétique.👉 <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/serie-rene-girard-des-choses-cachees-depuis-la-fondation-du-monde" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/serie-rene-girard-des-choses-cachees-depuis-la-fondation-du-monde</a>

Brandon J. Brown"[Many people] believe they are nonviolent simply because they benefit to the utmost from the protection of the principalities and powers, and so they never have to use force themselves." - Rene Girard - 'I See Satan Fall Like Lightning' <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/renegirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#renegirard</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/violence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#violence</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/privilege" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#privilege</a>

Dame Scott GEerily quiet here. Going to work on sprlng semester <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/syllabus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#syllabus</a> for Comp 2 today. On Sunday, will begin to populate Blackboard sites. One potential joy: I will be teaching again the Honors Seminar on <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/ReneGirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReneGirard</a>. One hour a week, on Mondays. Classes begin Monday. <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/AcademicChatter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AcademicChatter</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Mrfunkedude" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@Mrfunkedude</a>

Dino’s Journal 📖WOF 3485: The Power of Mimetic Desire with Luke Burgis | The Word On Fire Show<a href="https://journal.dinobansigan.com/wof-3485-the-power-of-mimetic-desire-with-luke-burgis-the-word-on-fire-show" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://journal.dinobansigan.com/wof-3485-the-power-of-mimetic-desire-with-luke-burgis-the-word-on-fire-show</a>

Dame Scott G<a href="https://spore.social/@tamarasiuda" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@tamarasiuda</a> <a href="https://mastodon.lol/@ProfessorLoki" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@ProfessorLoki</a> I got more on this topic which I will share later. I build on another person's connections of the Karen dynamic with <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/ReneGirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReneGirard</a> and the <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/scapegoatmechanism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scapegoatmechanism</a>.

Dame Scott G<a href="https://mstdn.social/@DataDrivenMD" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@DataDrivenMD</a> <a href="https://journa.host/@mollyjongfast" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@mollyjongfast</a> This dynamic is prime <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/ReneGirard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ReneGirard</a>: the cycle of <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/mimetic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#mimetic</a> contagion and the <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/scapegoat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scapegoat</a> dynamic that thrives on a <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/demagogue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#demagogue</a> type feeding on <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/scandal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scandal</a> which blurs the distinction between <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/sacred" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#sacred</a> and <a href="https://mastodon.lol/tags/profane" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#profane</a>.

Zachary<a href="https://mstdn.party/@tomcapuder" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@tomcapuder</a> We have never had any sort of agreement on this, but I find the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/scapegoat" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scapegoat</a> theory from <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Ren%C3%A9Girard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RenéGirard</a> compelling. The story of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Jesus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Jesus</a> is the classic example of <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/violence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#violence</a> being done to an innocent victim, except that the victim is explicitly innocent and the main protagonist. We identify with the innocent victim and not with the powerful <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/hero" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#hero</a> or <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/empire" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#empire</a> doing the slaying. This change in perspective is what brings <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/salvation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#salvation</a> from the cycle of violence and oppression.

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