The 1840s in the northeastern United States was an exciting and dangerous time, and it was all about the railroad lines that would eventually connect the enormous continent.
"Phineas Gage lived another 12 years after having that iron rod shot straight through his head. This part of his life isn’t incredibly well documented, but we can follow some bread crumbs."
Uh. We actually know quite a lot about this period of his life. He changed his name to Phileas Fogg and famously traveled around the world in 80 days, partially using the very railway network he helped build for this purpose.
Some dude called Jules Verne or something even wrote a biography about him.
Oh yeah. I must've had him mixed up with John Wick, who astutely observed of Phineas/Phileas: "Those who cling to death, live. Those who cling to life, die."
Sometimes, the most profound of scientific discoveries are made through the worst of tragedies. This also reminds me of the cases of 'feral children', who had deeply traumatising childhood. But it is through their darkest miseries, that we made profound discoveries about the field of linguistics. Never the less, such reads are always deeply disturbing and difficult to process. RIP Phineas Gage.
Great point about feral children. That's a pretty good idea for a piece that would need a little further research, but would probably be very interesting.
This is such an interesting story. It’s crazy that we still kind of learn about the brain the same way in that we have to wait for something to go wrong before we can study it. … also I think you may have given me some Macabre Monday fuel🤔
The story of Mr. Gage was recounted to me in my university psychology class, where he was used as an example of how easily a person can change if their brain is impaired. I think of it still and marvel.
For the record, in Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway, which still exist, were built with the same methodology as the American railways. Some people got injured and died, but not like Mr. Gage.
Interesting! Did the Canadians ultimately end up leaning as heavily on exploitative Chinese labor as the US? I know very little about the expansion of Canada that sort of parallels the US manifest destiny concept.
For some reason, your post reminded me of Henry Molaison. Below from Wikipedia:
A childhood bicycle accident[note 1] is often advanced as the likely cause of H.M.'s epilepsy.[1] H.M. began to have minor seizures at age 10; from 16 years of age, the seizures became major. Despite high doses of anticonvulsant medication, H.M.'s seizures were incapacitating. When he was 27, H.M. was offered an experimental procedure by neurosurgeon W. B. Scoville. Previously Scoville had only ever performed the surgery on psychotic patients.
Henry Gustav Molaison (February 26, 1926 – December 2, 2008), known widely as H.M., was an American who had a bilateral medial temporal lobectomy to surgically resect the anterior two thirds of his hippocampi, parahippocampal cortices, entorhinal cortices, piriform cortices, and amygdalae in an attempt to cure his epilepsy. Although the surgery was partially successful in controlling his epilepsy, a severe side effect was that he became unable to form new memories.
This story is even more interesting and the concepts it uncovers are the key function to solving AGI in my novel Paradox. Namely that emotion and reason are linked and that we are NOT rational beings. Gage was only rational and lost his emotional connection. It did not make him better and life. A fantastic view into this is the book Descarte's Error by Anthony Demasio amzn.to/49xRPTc
"Phineas Gage lived another 12 years after having that iron rod shot straight through his head. This part of his life isn’t incredibly well documented, but we can follow some bread crumbs."
Uh. We actually know quite a lot about this period of his life. He changed his name to Phileas Fogg and famously traveled around the world in 80 days, partially using the very railway network he helped build for this purpose.
Some dude called Jules Verne or something even wrote a biography about him.
Um, I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Jules Winfield.
He was quite the writer, although he was a bit more of a poet.
You may recall "This IS a tasty burger!" among other classics.
Oh yeah. I must've had him mixed up with John Wick, who astutely observed of Phineas/Phileas: "Those who cling to death, live. Those who cling to life, die."
Who played the best John Wick? A lot of people say John Krasinski, but I just can't get over Alec Baldwin's earlier performances.
Definitely. There was a big Chinese expat community that used it as a source of jobs.
Let me know if you have any interest in writing about this. I know I'd read it.
Sometimes, the most profound of scientific discoveries are made through the worst of tragedies. This also reminds me of the cases of 'feral children', who had deeply traumatising childhood. But it is through their darkest miseries, that we made profound discoveries about the field of linguistics. Never the less, such reads are always deeply disturbing and difficult to process. RIP Phineas Gage.
Great point about feral children. That's a pretty good idea for a piece that would need a little further research, but would probably be very interesting.
This is such an interesting story. It’s crazy that we still kind of learn about the brain the same way in that we have to wait for something to go wrong before we can study it. … also I think you may have given me some Macabre Monday fuel🤔
YES! I love when a little spark somehow leaps from my mind into another one, and I bet you can take a story in some really creepy directions!
The story of Mr. Gage was recounted to me in my university psychology class, where he was used as an example of how easily a person can change if their brain is impaired. I think of it still and marvel.
For the record, in Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway, which still exist, were built with the same methodology as the American railways. Some people got injured and died, but not like Mr. Gage.
Interesting! Did the Canadians ultimately end up leaning as heavily on exploitative Chinese labor as the US? I know very little about the expansion of Canada that sort of parallels the US manifest destiny concept.
Such an interesting post. Thanks for sharing this historical information in an engaging way!
Thanks, John! This is very cool to hear.
For some reason, your post reminded me of Henry Molaison. Below from Wikipedia:
A childhood bicycle accident[note 1] is often advanced as the likely cause of H.M.'s epilepsy.[1] H.M. began to have minor seizures at age 10; from 16 years of age, the seizures became major. Despite high doses of anticonvulsant medication, H.M.'s seizures were incapacitating. When he was 27, H.M. was offered an experimental procedure by neurosurgeon W. B. Scoville. Previously Scoville had only ever performed the surgery on psychotic patients.
Henry Gustav Molaison (February 26, 1926 – December 2, 2008), known widely as H.M., was an American who had a bilateral medial temporal lobectomy to surgically resect the anterior two thirds of his hippocampi, parahippocampal cortices, entorhinal cortices, piriform cortices, and amygdalae in an attempt to cure his epilepsy. Although the surgery was partially successful in controlling his epilepsy, a severe side effect was that he became unable to form new memories.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Molaison
Definitely. HM is super important, and belongs in the same conversation as Gage. Great callout!
This story is even more interesting and the concepts it uncovers are the key function to solving AGI in my novel Paradox. Namely that emotion and reason are linked and that we are NOT rational beings. Gage was only rational and lost his emotional connection. It did not make him better and life. A fantastic view into this is the book Descarte's Error by Anthony Demasio amzn.to/49xRPTc
Paradox can be found here: amzn.to/3SUxP60