Our Brains, Our Selves: How the Mind Creates Identity with Professor Masud Husain #362
Description
Our Brains, Our Selves: How the Mind Creates Identity with Professor Masud Husain
#362
In this episode of the SuperCreativity Podcast, James Taylor speaks with Professor Masud Husain, neurologist, neuroscientist, essayist, and author of Our Brains, Ourselves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Tell Him About the Brain. A leading researcher at the University of Oxford, Husain explores how the brain constructs our sense of self—and what happens when that system breaks down.
Through remarkable patient stories—from a man who loses his motivation after a stroke to a woman whose hand acts with a mind of its own—Husain shows how identity, motivation, and consciousness emerge from the fragile architecture of the brain. Together, they discuss the neuroscience of apathy and addiction, the role of dopamine in behavior, the intersection of AI and neurobiology, and what it truly means to be human.
If you’ve ever wondered how much of “you” is shaped by your brain—and how much you can change—this conversation offers profound insights into the science of the self.
Notable Quotes
“Our brains create our identities—ourselves. And when a part of that function fails, so does a piece of who we are.” – Prof. Masud Husain
“Motivation is not just psychological—it’s biological. It lives in deep circuits that connect desire to action.” – Prof. Masud Husain
“Apathy and addiction are two sides of the same coin—they both involve the brain’s motivation system gone wrong.” – Prof. Masud Husain
“We can still learn and reshape who we are. Even in adulthood, the brain remains astonishingly flexible.” – Prof. Masud Husain
Resources and Links
- Book: Our Brains, Ourselves
- Website: masudhusain.org
- Recommended Read: Principles of Neuroscience by Eric Kandel and James Schwartz
Takeaways
The brain builds identity — Selfhood arises from multiple interacting functions: memory, motivation, attention, and perception.
Apathy and addiction share the same circuitry — Dopamine links motivational cues to action; too little or too much disrupts balance.
Motivation can b
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