Breaking Connections

(2)

I bring that last question up because of an interesting piece on PBS last night titled, The Secret Life of the Brain, which claims that maturation is more of a pruning process than a growing process, brainwise. That is to say that infants are born with their brains extremely 'overwired' and that the major initial circuit changes to the brain are in the form of massive disconnections. This is anti-intuitive in the sense that one would suppose that the process of maturation was instead one of 'making connections.'

But the maturation process seems to be quite the opposite: that of disconnecting unneeded wiring, enabling the brain to become aculturated (formed) over time. The older we become, the less our neurons interconnect, up to a point.

But beyond a certain point the maturation process reverses course, concentrating on connection not disconnection. So I wonder about Pat Robertson. Where is he in this process? It seems reasonable to suppose that Pat is in the latter stages of 'personal brain evolution' at his advanced age. Which is to say that Pat's 'connection rate' is not enough at his age to fundamentally change his thinking processes.

This brings me to conclude that Pat's sudden acquisition of Christian Introspection is more apparent than real and that we will see the same old Pat in future broadcasts. Not to worry.