The inner life of the hand - Many Minds
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- Title
- The inner life of the hand
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- <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Newton saw in the human hand proof of the divine; Darwin saw a key to our species' success. Many others, too, have described the hand in hyperbolic terms, as a paragon of design, a cornerstone of human uniqueness, an engine of our achievements. But what makes the human hand so powerful? Is it the proportions of the fingers? Is it the opposability of the thumb? Or, could it be none of this? Could it be that the real power of our hands lies—not in the physical design—but elsewhere, out of sight?</span><span class="s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">My guest today is <a href= "https://www.bbk.ac.uk/our-staff/8007317/matthew-longo"><span class="s2"> Dr. Matt Longo</span></a>. Matt is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London. He's the author of the recent book, <a href= "https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262551878/the-invisible-hand/"><span class="s2"> <em>The Invisible Hand</em></span></a><em>,</em> a wide-ranging tour of the human hand and how it's geared into the brain.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Here, Matt and I talk about the difference between the "visible hand"—that is, its physical structure—and the "invisible hand"—its representation in the brain. We consider the evolution of the visible hand and whether there really is anything truly distinctive or impressive about it. We talk about the biology of touch. We tour the invisible hand, discussing how—through cortical magnification—the hand becomes over-represented in the brain's sensory maps. We catalogue a fews ways that the hands can go awry. And we talk about whether we should feel any nostalgia for all the hand-based activities and crafts that we're losing. Along the way, we also touch on star-nosed moles and raccoons; tetrapods and the primitive archetype; hand dominance; the parallel between a horse's knee and a human's wrist; tool use, plasticity and abstraction; homunculi; the rubber-hand illusion; supernumerary fingers; the Third Thumb project; and the question of what it might unlock if dolphins had hands.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Alright, friends, this is a fun one. On to my interview with Dr. Matt Longo!</span></p> <p class="p1"> </p> <p class="p1"><span class="s2"><em>Notes</em></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">3:00 – For discussion of the many traits and behaviors that have been proposed as uniquely human, see our <a href= "https://disi.org/the-quest-for-human-uniqueness/"><span class= "s2">earlier audio essay</span></a>. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">5:00 – For an example of the "if only dolphins had hands" thought experiment, see <a href= "https://nationalpost.com/news/report-the-only-thing-stopping-dolphins-from-destroying-us-is-a-lack-of-hands"> <span class="s2">here</span></a>.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">8:00 – See <a href= "https://archive.org/details/principlesofanat00jonerich/page/n9/mode/2up"> <span class="s2"><em>The Principles of Anatomy as Seen in the Hand</em></span></a> by Frederic Wood Jones.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">10:30 – Dr. Longo's book, <em>The Invisible Hand</em>, is available open access <a href= "https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5943/The-Invisible-HandNeurocognitive-Mechanisms-of"> <span class="s2">here</span></a>.</span><span class= "s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">16:00 – For discussion of how—in horses and other species—the five digits have been reduced or otherwise tweaked over evolution, see <a href= "https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article/5/1/171782/93616"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>. For an image showing examples of homology between the human forelimb and the forelimbs of other creatures, see <a href= "https://www.britannica.com/science/homology-evolution"><span class="s2"> here.</span></a></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">19:00 – For a brief discussion of "thumb opposability" see <a href= "https://carta.anthropogeny.org/moca/topics/thumb-opposability"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>. For
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-07T18:08:00+00:00
- Status
- completed
- Website
- https://manyminds.libsyn.com/the-inner-life-of-the-hand
- Length
- 70:16
- File
- /podcasts/Many Minds/1778177280-5302.mp3
- Size
- 96.5 MB
- Bitrate
- 187-CBR
- Channels
- 1
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