“The Answer is Right in Back of Your Eyes”

     An incredibly complex organ, the brain is essential to our survival; however, there is a staggering amount that we do not yet know about its workings and abilities.  In a New York Times Opinion piece entitled “What Our Brains Can Teach Us,” David Eagleman, author and neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, touches upon some of the brain’s intricacies that distinguish it from human created artificial sources of intelligence.  The examples used additionally further his claims of the merits of the brain that justify and validate Obama’s decision to invest perhaps 3 billion dollars to the study of neuroscience in the future.

     A notable technique employed by Eagleman was his constant comparisons between the brain and machines of artificial intelligence.  He writes, “Google Translate can convert any language to any other, but understands nothing of the content. Watson still can’t answer simple questions like, ‘When President Obama walks into a room, does his nose come with him?’ ” (1).  Mentioning these well known human advancements, in addition to appealing to cultural memory, gives the audience a solid basis for comparison, both ensuring that they understand Eagleman’s points and increasing the chances that they will be persuaded by his perspective.  By juxtaposing these two elements, Eagleman effectively establishes the brain’s superiority for the audience, as well as the weaknesses and limitations of human inventions when compared to the adaptability of the brain.  This is further illustrated through the vivid comparative anecdotes Eagleman uses to begin the piece.  By comparing humans investigating the brain to aliens who have just discovered Earth and are struggling to understand its complexities, the audience can clearly imagine how vast and enigmatic the brain is to humans.  The effectiveness of this metaphor is strengthened because Eagleman expands and adds to it throughout the editorial.  Imagining humans trying to categorize aspects of the brain as aliens judging Earth based on its natural disasters adds imagery and depth to the first comparison.  In addition, the metaphor helps Eagleman to pictorially show the shallow level of current human knowledge of the brain.

     These elements together appeal to the reader’s senses of logic and reason and increase their awareness of the brain.  Eagleman’s neat concluding lines, “So when a taxpayer asks how to endow our country with a confident future, you can reply, the answer is right in back of your eyes,” (1) thus make sense and resonate well with this audience, making Eagleman’s purpose of convincing his audience of the merits of the brain unquestionably fulfilled.