Transcript excerpt from a YouTube video in which Tom Sterner recounts an anecdote about a brain experiment (attributed to Deepak Chopra/Penfield) where probes stimulated a subject’s motor cortex to raise limbs. The anecdote highlights questions about agency and whether a separate "commander" controls voluntary actions.
They were doing this experiment that I remember, think it was Deepak Chopra talked about. And it was fascinating where they would stick a probe in the guy's brain. And they would say, okay, I'm gonna. You know, because the brain doesn't have pain receptors, so you can work on it with a person awake. And so they were sticking this probe into this guy's brain. They said, like, I'm going to make your left arm raise. So the guy would stick the probe in. The left arm would go up. And the penfield said, are you raising your arm? And the guy said, no, you're making my arm go up by sticking this probe in. He goes, well, can you do something else with it? And he goes, yeah. So he moves it back and forth. He says, okay, well, I'm gonna. I'm gonna stick a probe in this side here. Your right arm go up. Can you override that and not let your arm go up? And he goes, yeah, I think so. So he puts the probe and the guy. The arm doesn't go up. So this. The whole thought there was, where's the commander?
