PINNING DOWN POTENTIAL 33future.” It further declares that “the theoretical motivations underpin-
ning educational neuroscience are misguided,” and indeed, that “neurosci-
entists cannot help educators, but educators can help neuroscientists.”^42
Such comments show that there is still little consensus about how
human potential is related to the brain, except in very general terms. Th is
is prob ably because, in spite of abundant specifi c fi ndings, these have not
yet been woven into an integrated view of what the brain is for, nor why,
in the course of evolution, it has become so much more complex. As
Steven Rose explained in an article in the Lancet titled “50 Years of Neuro-
science,” “Many of the prob lems that had beset the early days remain
unresolved... for all the outpouring of data from the huge industry
that neuroscience has become, [hopes] for bridging theories are still in
short supply.”^43
Jonathon Roiser likewise complained in the Psychologist (April 2015)
how “we lack a generally accepted neuroscientifi c explanation of how
brains make minds.” An article by Gary Marcus in the New York Times
(June 27, 2015) is titled “Face It, Your Brain Is a Computer”— but then goes
on to point out how neuroscientists tend to focus “on understanding
narrow, mea sur able phenomena... without addressing the larger con-
ceptual question of what it is that the brain does.”^44
As with ge ne tics, then, we have brilliant accounts of some specifi c
structures and pro cesses in the brain. But how these fi gure in the higher
functions of the brain and intelligence in real environmental and social
contexts is another matter. In consequence, there is now great confusion
in psy chol ogy about how to relate to neuroscience, even entertaining the
notion that the neural level of analy sis will eventually render psy chol ogy
superfl uous.^45
In chapter 6, I also describe a new view now unfolding. It is telling us
how the brain is a dynamic and interwoven network of connections and
interactions. Th e brain operates at many levels and scales, from subcel-
lular molecular ensembles, to synaptic connections, to local and regional
cir cuits, and, ultimately, to large- scale networks interconnecting brain
regions. Also, in humans, these hyper- networks are further embedded
in social networks involving relations between brains. As we shall see,
in the dynamic activity itself, potential is created rather than merely
realized.
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