Cornell University psychology professor Shimon Edelman has published "The Happiness of Pursuit: What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About the Good Life."
Edelman, a cognition expert, draws on philosophy, literature and neuroscience to assert that happiness is more easily attained through better understanding of the human mind.
He asserts that happiness isn't a victory won or a destination we reach, but rather the continuous journey of pursuit.
Edelman uses the concept of the mind as a computing device, demonstrating how the human brain is highly active and constantly learning experientially. It is his conclusion that the journey of achieving happiness, rather than the destination, is what matters most.
He makes the case for these claims by exploring the computations carried out collectively by the brain's neurons, including the faculties of perception, motivation and emotions, action, memory, thinking, social cognition, learning and language.
Edelman is the author of "Representation and Recognition in Vision" and "Computing the Mind: How the Mind Really Works," along with dozens of scholarly publications in theoretical neuroscience, cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence, all focusing on reverse-engineering the human brain.
The book was published Feb. 1 by Basic Books of New York.
Weill professor shares "Arab Nobel Prize"
The 2012 King Faisal International Prize for Medicine was jointly awarded this month to Professor James Bruce Busse of Cornell University's Weill Medical College, and Professor Richard L. Berkowitz, of Columbia Medical Center.
The King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) is ranked by the International Congress for Distinguished Awards as one of the world's most prestigious awards.
The award, known as the "Arab Nobel Prize," aims to revitalize and sustain the Islamic tradition of recognizing human accomplishments that enrich life and society.
Berkowitz and Bussel have worked together for more than two decades in the study of unborn and new born infants affected by the life-threatening condition of alloimmune thrombocytopenia, which causes intracranial hemorrhage either in utero or during the neonatal period, causing death or substantial disability in 10 percent of untreated cases.
The worldwide ongoing treatment for this disorder is based largely on their work.