Student clubs operating at the NP Health Campus, under the coordination of the Üsküdar University Health, Culture and Sports (SKS) Department, organized an event titled “Nobel Presentation”. Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ, Head of the Neurology Department at Üsküdar University Faculty of Medicine and Neurologist at NPİSTANBUL Hastanesi, attended the event as a guest. In his presentation, Tanrıdağ addressed the topics of ‘What is Nobel? What is its importance for us? 2023 Nobel Prizes and Criticisms about Nobel’. Tanrıdağ emphasized that for those who want to understand the world starting from Nobel, the only way is to learn recent history.
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ, Head of the Neurology Department at Üsküdar University Faculty of Medicine and Neurologist at NPİSTANBUL Hastanesi, participated in the event held at the Ibn-i Sina Auditorium on the Üsküdar University NP Health Campus.
“The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences symbolized the birth of neuromarketing”
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ stated that neuromarketing is a branch of science where economics and neuroscience meet and merge, concerning individual human behaviors; “The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences symbolized the birth of neuromarketing, which is seriously addressed and studied at our university. Daniel Kahneman was the first in history to be nominated for and win the ‘Nobel Economics’ prize for his research on which factors influence people's behavior in market and consumer relations. In other words, a behavioral scientist received the Nobel Economics prize. This is because he announced the scientific theories of 'How are determinations made? How do people shop?' with what thoughts people encounter goods in market and consumer relations. In Daniel Kahneman’s book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’, we encounter the following statements: ‘There are two types of thinking: fast thinking and slow thinking.’ As he mostly erred, fast thinking is not always wrong, and slow thinking is not always right. We generally have urban legends among us. There are myths that fast thinking leads to harmful results and mistakes, and that slow thinking can be recommended. There is truth to it, but it is not true in all cases. Both can be right or wrong depending on the circumstances. In one situation, thinking fast might be a very correct approach for a specific person, while in another, thinking slow might yield a correct result for that person, and vice versa. Our decisions regarding our short-term and long-term expectations and interests determine when each thinking style might be correct or incorrect. Therefore, within neuromarketing, it is quite clearly shown that our decisions are formed based on the types of operations performed by the right and left hemispheres of our brain, and how we perceive the outside world.”
Tanrıdağ stated that neuromarketing is a branch of science where economics and neuroscience meet, merge, and concern individual human behaviors, adding, “There is a parallel between the overlapping of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Consequently, brain research guides people on how they should behave in sociology, economics, mathematics, physics, and psychology.”
“For a significant part of the 20th Century, physics and chemistry became parts of the same whole”
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ pointed out that for a part of the 20th Century, physics and chemistry pursued the same goals; “Quantum is primarily a concept related to physics; quantum physics became popular starting from the early 20th Century. It is a concept related to physics, and its development also led to the chemistry prize. For a significant part of the 20th Century, physics and chemistry converged on the same goals and became parts of the same whole. Therefore, a chemistry prize began to be awarded to the ideas of a physics school, similar to how literature and economics prizes are given. Quantum dots, moving in the opposite direction again, offering us various options between being and not being, are a physics that, contrary to Newtonian physics, brings probabilistic calculations to the fore. The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which essentially started as a subject of physics, with the determination of quantum dots, serves as proof of the interdisciplinary nature of science and why collaboration across different disciplines is important.”
“The 1986 award showed that genetic mechanisms are different”
Drawing attention to the 1986 Nobel Prize, Tanrıdağ mentioned that genetic mechanisms operate under two programs. Tanrıdağ stated; “With the 1986 Nobel, it was understood that many helpless children, adolescents, adults, and elderly people had treatment chances and were treatable. It was also observed that genetic mechanisms played a role there. Genetic mechanisms operate under two programs: one for repairing damage and one for maintaining damage, namely ‘Apoptotic and Anti-apoptotic’ mechanisms. We are born with these mechanisms. That is, the gene, from birth, limits development in early ages towards damage caused by command separation, and we age prematurely in middle age. There are methods to prevent this, but ultimately, the 1986 award showed that genetic mechanisms are different.”
“If you want to understand the world starting from Nobel, there is only one way…”
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Tanrıdağ offered important advice to the participants; “You should learn recent history. My advice is to learn both the recent history of Turkey and the recent history of the world. If you are interested, then you should comment. If you want to understand the world starting from Nobel, there is only one way, learn recent history…”
The event concluded with a group photo session after participants' questions were answered.