The impact of Immigration

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

44 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Opposites side of the brain DO control other side MUSCLES, NOT the way  a person THINKS, GON. Congratulations on About the silliest thing you've said so far. It's a real beauty.  I believe in  credit where it's due.  Nev

 No, it's true. And natural right leaning people are predominately left-side cerebral hemisphere motivated.

 

You can't change these truths by getting angry and insulting.

[octave]

6 minutes ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

 No, it's true.

No, it is not. Would you like references?

[willedoo]

It's a known fact that a lot of people tend toward toward either a predominately left brain or right brain way of thinking. I say predominately because everyone uses both hemispheres, but most people favour one side or the other. Left brain thinking is the more practical side and the right side is the artistic side. You do your tax return using mainly the left hemisphere and the right side for painting a picture, playing a musical instrument and all that stuff. When you daydream, you are using the right side of your brain.

 

There's a good book on how to draw by Betty Edwards titled 'Drawing on the right side of the brain'. In it, there's some good examples of progress. She included a drawing by Vincent van Gogh when he was first learning to draw (at quite a mature age). It was a real shocker, and typical of someone who is totally hopeless at drawing. Then she gave an example of his work 18 months later and the transformation was massive. In that time, he'd learnt to see things with right brain perception.

[willedoo]

The Van Gogh example backs up the idea that nobody is born favouring one side of the brain or the other. Depending on what people do, they use one side more than the other. Plant operating, eg: driving machines is one field where it makes a difference.

[octave]

9 minutes ago, willedoo said:

picture, playing a musical instrument and all that stuff. When you daydream, you are using the right side of your brain.

 I think these things are oversimplified.  I can talk specifically about music, having been a musician and music teacher for my entire working life.     Music is not only artistic but also analytical and mathematical.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by octave

[willedoo]

The two sides of the brain work together, it's just that different skills and functions are controlled by one side or another. While a particular task in hand might draw on right brain function for the bulk of it's operation, the left hemisphere is still in the background performing it's tasks.

[willedoo]

1 minute ago, octave said:

 I think these things are oversimplified.  I can talk specifically about music, having been a musician and music teacher for my entire working life.     Music is not only artistic but also mathematical.l

Yes, particularly for people who read music, use sheet music and all the mathematical side of music.

[willedoo]

In that example I gave of plant operating, the right hemisphere is handling the blade work (or a bucket in the case of a digger) and the left side is dealing with the constantly changing numbers on the GPS.

[octave]

According to the AI summary

 

🧠 The “left brain vs right brain” idea

The claim that people are either “left-brained” (logical) or “right-brained” (creative) is not supported by modern neuroscience.

• The brain does have hemispheric specialization—that part is real.
  • For example, language is often more dominant in the left hemisphere.
  • Some spatial processing leans right.
• But almost everything you actually do—math, music, drawing, decision-making—uses both hemispheres working together via the corpus callosum.

Large brain imaging studies have found no evidence that people consistently favour one hemisphere in a personality-defining way.

🧾 The examples (tax vs art, daydreaming)

These are too neat to be accurate:

• Doing your tax return:
  • Uses logic, yes—but also memory, attention, language, and even visual processing → both hemispheres involved.
• Painting or playing music:
  • Not just “right brain.” Skilled musicians and artists show strong left-hemisphere involvement (timing, sequencing, structure).
• Daydreaming:
  • Linked more to the brain’s default mode network, which spans both hemispheres, not just the right.

📚 About Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

This book is popular and helpful for many people learning to draw—but its explanation is not scientifically accurate.

• Betty Edwards uses the “right brain” idea as a teaching metaphor.
• What she’s really helping people do is:
  • Stop relying on symbolic shortcuts (“this is what an eye looks like”)
  • Start observing shapes, proportions, and negative space more carefully

That improvement is real—but it’s not because you’ve “switched hemispheres.” It’s because you’ve changed how you pay attention and process visual information.

🎨 The Vincent van Gogh example

Van Gogh’s improvement is absolutely real—but:

• It’s explained by practice, training, and perceptual learning, not “activating the right brain.”
• Adults can improve dramatically at drawing once they learn to see differently, which is what Edwards is tapping into.

🧩 So what is true?

• ✔ The brain has some lateralization
• ✔ People can improve artistic skills a lot with the right training
• ✔ The book’s exercises can genuinely help

🚫 What’s not true (or overstated)

• ❌ People are “left-brained” or “right-brained”
• ❌ Logic = left hemisphere, creativity = right hemisphere
• ❌ You can switch modes by “using the right side of your brain”

 

 

 

 

[willedoo]

I don't know about that correlation between brain hemispheres and politicl leaning though. Look at people like Matt Canavan who has gone full circle from Marxist to leader of the National Party.

[octave]

Getting back to the assertion that political leanings are determined by the dominance of one hemisphere over the other.

 

It is not unusual for people to change their political leanings throughout life or as a result of particular life experiences. 

 

I came to Australia from England when I was 2.  I endured a moderate amount of bullying early on in school for being a Pommy.   This no doubt allows me to empathise with victims of bullying. 

 

My sister came out as gay when she was 17, and suffered badly due to conservative attitudes back then.  This means that I can not abide anti gay behaviour and therefore identify more with the so called left than right.  

 

As I said, I have been a musician/music teacher all of my life.  This means that I am keenly aware of which side of politics is likely to support the arts.

 

As a teenager, I was heavily involved with the Astronomical Society and had a general love for science  I have an awareness of which side of politics is more supportive of science.

 

Our neighbour and friend is a trans F to M.  My logical side says, " Do I enjoy this person's company? Anything else is irrelevant. Again, this seems more left than right.

 

Whether or not we have hard-wired tendencies, that is all they are, tendencies. Much more important is the overlay of life experience.  For some, a life event may even change someone from right to left or vice versa.  It is also not uncommon for people to move across the political spectrum as they age.

 

 

[willedoo]

26 minutes ago, octave said:

As I said, I have been a musician/music teacher all of my life. 

Good on you octave for being able to make a life long career doing something you have a passion for.