Right brain vs left brain

Having read an interview with Nobel-prize winnning neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini in today’s El Pais, I found her comments about the right vs. left brain intriguing.  While Shazzie and Kate Wood wax lyrical about right-brainedness, how we need to feed and stimulate this neglected intuitive part of our cerebrum, La Doctoressa Levi-Montalcini says the opposite.  Indeed, she says that people are right-brained when under the influence of crowds, dictators and instinct.  To become more human, we need to develop the rational, thinking, left brain.  Hmmm…..I guess that I can see both sides of the argument.  That intuition and feelings are certainly important if we are to develop empathy and cohesiveness. But  I can also see that rational thought can save the day when emotions run high.  I find it intriguing that La Montalcini says that the left brain has had neither somatic nor functional development to the same extent as the right brain hemisphere.  She says that the right-brain dominance is a throwback to our animal past that we must strive to shake off.