While care of the body is, was and always will be the be all and end all for life success, we must all be on guard for what the world of technology brings our way.

In the Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Wall Street Journal we find a featured article called Electric Boost to the Brain. Upon further examination we find that the focus of the new research is on sending low-dose electric currents through the brains of adults and children as young as eight to make them better at math.

The diagnosis needed for such a treatment is a math learning-disability called developmental dyscalculia, similar to dyslexia but with numerals instead of letters. This condition is different than just finding math difficult. According to the article, people with this problem “also may have trouble with daily tasks, such as remembering phone numbers and understanding bills.”

Given all of this background, here is more information reported in the article.

• “Up to 6% of the population is estimated to have a math-learning disability.”

• “Whether transcranial electrical stimulation proves to be a useful cognitive enhancer remains to be seen.”

• “Cognitive training helps to some extent in some individuals with math difficulties.”

Here is one more piece of data related to individual differences and their effect on the treatment. “Whether a room is dark or well-lighted, if a person smokes and even where women are in their menstrual cycle can affect the brain’s response to electrical stimulation, studies have found.”

Insight…

Be careful! Capacities beyond our “human” selves are now being stretched far into the unknown. We are taking all kinds of concrete technological treatments and applying them to people who are just the opposite–non-concrete, emotional, and extremely complicated; and we are trying to make both of them work together.

February! the Month of the Heart

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched… They must be felt with the heart.

~ Helen Keller