Redundant

My takeaway from the discussion was that the brain protects itself by holding redundancies.

Well, that was one of the points I gleaned from Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk with Daniel Levitan (and Chuck Knight) on music as our first language.

Why redundancy? It would be a way for the brain to keep and store information that we need to survive in more than one place. If some mishap takes it away from one place, we can access it from the backup unit. It’s kind of like relying on a generator to power our lights when the grid fails.

Redundancy in brain function may also explain the «long goodbye« of dementia. [This is my unscientific speculation on the science as it was presented.]

There’s another storeroom full of things that might be useful.

Some functions of the brain are preserved in duplicate for the sake of self-preservation. They might kick in as the losses, the difficulty in organizing thoughts or inability to find words, are plaguing our loves with p.w.d.

Usually, the confusion is so great that the information tucked away isn’t much help. It may even add to the muddle.  It doesn’t seem to clarify anything for Burt.

At least there is still music to sometimes soothe, entertain, and calm him. Us, actually, I should say. To entertain and calm us.