The Neuroscientist Offering a Fresh Diagnosis for Argentina
In tough times, Facundo Manes is signaling a bigger role for himself in Argentine society and politics.
Facundo Manes in an interview in JanuaryFundación Telefónica
In neurology, anosognosia refers to a patient’s inability or unwillingness to acknowledge their condition. It’s the term Dr. Facundo Manes uses to explain Argentina’s recurring cycle of recession, debt and inflation.
“We don’t recognize our problems,” Manes told
AQ, saying the country is like a patient who has “never followed the right treatment.”
Such crisp diagnoses have made Manes, a best-selling author and neuroscientist specializing in how people make decisions, something of a breakthrough personality in today’s troubled Argentina. Whether opining on artificial intelligence to his more than a million social media followers, or discussing the pratfalls of political tribalism in newspaper and TV interviews, he has become a constant, often comforting presence during a year that included one of Latin America’s most stringent COVID-related lockdowns – and one of its deepest recessions.