Microetching of the human brain by Dr. Greg Dunn.
Self Reflected
22K gold microetching under multicolored light
2014-2016, 96" X 130"
Greg Dunn and Brian Edwards
The Bible and other ancient texts recognize that human reason far surpasses that of other animals. In Genesis, Adam names other creatures, highlighting his unique ability to describe creation. The apostle Paul speaks of renewing one’s mind as essential to becoming godly.
For centuries, some theologians and philosophers used such passages to argue that human reason was central to the meaning of imago Dei. As the theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote, “While in all creatures there is some kind of likeness to God, in the rational creature alone we find a likeness of ‘image.’”
Science itself is a unique expression of human reason. Where does our capacity to reason come from?
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD.”
Isaiah 1:18
Brain scan of a healthy 29-year-old woman shows the brain as bundles of nerve fibers in different colors. These fibers serve as cables connecting cells and transmitting information between them.
Healthy adult human brain viewed from the side, tractography. Henrietta Howells, NatBrainLab. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Do our brains make us different from other animals? Are we “wired” in a way that makes us unique?
The human brain is among the most complex things we know of in the universe. It is a physical organ, weighing only three pounds in an average adult. Yet, it is somehow connected to the way each of us thinks, feels, and acts.
Our brains might be anatomically similar to other creatures, but they also contribute to uniquely human traits. These traits, in turn, allow us to communicate and cooperate with each other in unique ways.
“Man’s excellence consists in the fact that God made him to His own image by giving him an intellectual soul which raises him above the beasts of the field.”
Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, early 5th century
Before the ease of cell phones, a person would need to use a telephone operator to place a call. Operators worked central exchanges where they would connect calls via a switchboard, like this 1950s version.
Stock Connection Blue / Alamy Stock Photo
What allows us to transmit ideas, build complex communities, and improve technologies?
The way humans communicate is strikingly different from other animals.
While experiments have tried to teach human language to other animals, they could not learn the nuances that even young children can quickly recognize.
“Humans have a unique anatomy that supports our ability to produce complex language.”
Philip Lieberman, “Why Human Speech Is Special,” 2018
The Rosetta Stone.
Alex Hammond / Alamy Stock Photo
Language allows humans to develop scientific theories, to debate the meaning of life, to investigate the past, to ponder the future, and to convey both truth and falsehood.
Human speech is richly symbolic and allows us to make connections between objects, experiences, and ideas. The arts and sciences spring from this ability to communicate symbolically.
“We inhabit a world full of abstractions, impossibilities, and paradoxes . . . no other species on earth seems able to follow us into this miraculous place.”
Terrence Deacon, The Symbolic Species, 1997
Brain scan of a healthy 29-year-old woman shows the brain as bundles of nerve fibers in different colors. These fibers serve as cables connecting cells and transmitting information between them.
Healthy adult human brain viewed from the side, tractography. Henrietta Howells, NatBrainLab. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Do our brains make us different from other animals? Are we “wired” in a way that makes us unique?
The human brain is among the most complex things we know of in the universe. It is a physical organ, weighing only three pounds in an average adult. Yet, it is somehow connected to the way each of us thinks, feels, and acts.
Our brains might be anatomically similar to other creatures, but they also contribute to uniquely human traits. These traits, in turn, allow us to communicate and cooperate with each other in unique ways.
“Man’s excellence consists in the fact that God made him to His own image by giving him an intellectual soul which raises him above the beasts of the field.”
Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, early 5th century
Before the ease of cell phones, a person would need to use a telephone operator to place a call. Operators worked central exchanges where they would connect calls via a switchboard, like this 1950s version.
Stock Connection Blue / Alamy Stock Photo
What allows us to transmit ideas, build complex communities, and improve technologies?
The way humans communicate is strikingly different from other animals.
While experiments have tried to teach human language to other animals, they could not learn the nuances that even young children can quickly recognize.
“Humans have a unique anatomy that supports our ability to produce complex language.”
Philip Lieberman, “Why Human Speech Is Special,” 2018
The Rosetta Stone.
Alex Hammond / Alamy Stock Photo
Language allows humans to develop scientific theories, to debate the meaning of life, to investigate the past, to ponder the future, and to convey both truth and falsehood.
Human speech is richly symbolic and allows us to make connections between objects, experiences, and ideas. The arts and sciences spring from this ability to communicate symbolically.
“We inhabit a world full of abstractions, impossibilities, and paradoxes . . . no other species on earth seems able to follow us into this miraculous place.”
Terrence Deacon, The Symbolic Species, 1997
Brain scan of a healthy 29-year-old woman shows the brain as bundles of nerve fibers in different colors. These fibers serve as cables connecting cells and transmitting information between them.
Healthy adult human brain viewed from the side, tractography. Henrietta Howells, NatBrainLab. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Do our brains make us different from other animals? Are we “wired” in a way that makes us unique?
The human brain is among the most complex things we know of in the universe. It is a physical organ, weighing only three pounds in an average adult. Yet, it is somehow connected to the way each of us thinks, feels, and acts.
Our brains might be anatomically similar to other creatures, but they also contribute to uniquely human traits. These traits, in turn, allow us to communicate and cooperate with each other in unique ways.
“Man’s excellence consists in the fact that God made him to His own image by giving him an intellectual soul which raises him above the beasts of the field.”
Augustine of Hippo, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, early 5th century
Before the ease of cell phones, a person would need to use a telephone operator to place a call. Operators worked central exchanges where they would connect calls via a switchboard, like this 1950s version.
Stock Connection Blue / Alamy Stock Photo
What allows us to transmit ideas, build complex communities, and improve technologies?
The way humans communicate is strikingly different from other animals.
While experiments have tried to teach human language to other animals, they could not learn the nuances that even young children can quickly recognize.
“Humans have a unique anatomy that supports our ability to produce complex language.”
Philip Lieberman, “Why Human Speech Is Special,” 2018
The Rosetta Stone.
Alex Hammond / Alamy Stock Photo
Language allows humans to develop scientific theories, to debate the meaning of life, to investigate the past, to ponder the future, and to convey both truth and falsehood.
Human speech is richly symbolic and allows us to make connections between objects, experiences, and ideas. The arts and sciences spring from this ability to communicate symbolically.
“We inhabit a world full of abstractions, impossibilities, and paradoxes . . . no other species on earth seems able to follow us into this miraculous place.”
Terrence Deacon, The Symbolic Species, 1997
