As the election draws nearer many us feel dread at how a complex array of issues facing our country gets squeezed into a winner takes all, first past the post voting process. It doesn’t seem right that the diversity of the electorate’s views is simplified into a simple decision. But that’s the way it works.
And, strangely enough, this is exactly how the brain works, too. Neurones either fire or they don’t; each nerve cell returns a single result despite the infinite number of thoughts and decisions that lead up to it.
Every nerve cell in our brain acts on ‘inputs’, or information, from thousands of other nerve cells. Each one integrates these ‘inputs’ into a single goal - whether to fire or not to fire. There’s no grey area or halfway house: a nerve cell either fires an action potential or it doesn’t. Once it does and the impulse is transmitted, all the richness and complexity of the other cell inputs is lost.
Similarly it doesn’t matter if the final margin amounts to 10 or 10,000, it’s whoever gets past the post that counts. This horrifying simplification is a fact of life, one that may or may not be a comfort as election fever takes hold.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
