Silent Friend

Does the baby need a break?

Thank you. - Please.

This is a local beer.

Welcome to the faculty, Professor Wong.

Thank you.

How was your trip?

Not too much jet lag?

It's not that bad.

Wonderful.

I am your assistant, also your interpreter if required.

I am doing my doctorate in neurology.

I have studied your work.

Maybe we'd rather speak English?

Is my Cantonese that bad?

I'm sorry about that.

I cheated and claimed I speak Cantonese.

But I only speak it to my grandma.

Her Cantonese is not bad.

I am a big fan of your research work.

I will do my best.

Thank you.

This is a local specialty.

Hello?

I'm fine.

Yes, I'm fine.

I need a projector tomorrow.

I have already written to the university.

I can do it on my own.

That's very kind of you.

See you tomorrow.

You've probably seen the model many times before.

After all, it stands the central theme of your studies.

For some, it will occupy them for the rest of their lives.

Then please tell me what it is.

A human brain.

Well, actually it is a nice colorful piece of plastic.

Everything we research should be viewed in a similar way.

Research is nothing more than a series of experiments,

metaphors for the phenomena of the world.

Please switch off all electronic devices.

I'll show you something.

You are now focused on this object.

The light is bright,

you are not exposed to any other visual stimuli.

This is the default setting of the adult brain.

We call it "Spotlight Consciousness".

We perceive the world around us in a sequence

quicker, more focused moments.

It was recently thought that babies are the same,

only on a more primitive level.

But our research

prove the opposite.

Pass the ball, wherever you want.

Next.

You see,

in this gently moving glow

are the boundaries between the seen and the unseen,

Noticed and unnoticed

fluent.

This is not about limitation,

Nor is it about separation.

It is about being part of a continuity.

What you are experiencing now is what we,

other researchers and me,

imagine, how babies perceive the world.

We call this "Lantern Consciousness".

When we adults concentrate on something,

parts of our brain switch off, that are not directly involved.

Concentrate means in our case, to exclude.

When babies encounter something new,

or interesting things,

they do exactly the opposite.

They do not switch off.

Most regions of their brain are activated.

They observe the new phenomenon in its entirety,

in every conceivable context.

Let's take a look at this example:

a 50-year-old man and a 6-month-old child.

We have given both a completely new task,

which required her undivided attention required.

We compared their brain activity before and during the task.

We had expected similar changes.

We were completely wrong.

Do you see?

The difference is astounding.

The baby's brain waves are similar to those

of people in deep meditation.

Or under the influence of certain

psychedelic substances.

You could say that babies are high all the time.

Well, this is the state scientists hope for

in their rare moments of intuition.

In view of the worsening COVID-19 situation

individuals and organizations and organizations,

to fight the virus together and support Hong Kong.

... while this part here is the cortex.

It distinguishes us from the animals

and makes us the most evolved species on earth.

What do you do when you want to you want to get in touch with,

but don't have a common language?

They are curious,

but you can't ask any questions.

If you are a scientist, you are lucky.

You can do an experiment.

To start with, I have chosen the mimosa.

She has become famous for one single reason reason she became famous.

It can do the following:

It is one of the few plants that allows us to analyze its reactions within

of a human time frame to observe.

That is pure coincidence,

but we are thrilled about it.

And that's why we say: Yes, of course it's intelligent,

because it does something.

This is how the mimosa

the "intelligent" plant,

simply because of this coincidence.

Because of the relative proximity to the time periods in which we live.

But it turned out that the mimosa learns,

remembers,

weighs up their options

and makes decisions.

Chassé

...skip!

and leap.

I work with babies, until they start talking,

and since we have no verbal feedback,

the wildest assumptions circulate in the scientific community the wildest conjectures.