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Articles by Iddo Gefen
Ahmed al Ahmed’s bravery at Bondi Beach reminds us of our own humanity in a world that seeks to erode it
We tend to think of human behavior as deeply shaped by group lines. Again and again, research in social psychology and social neuroscience, along with everyday experience, shows how easily people come to see themselves as members of distinct groups, how quickly an “us” and a “them” emerge, and how rapidly loyalty on one side gives way to suspicion on the other, sometimes even when those divisions are thin or arbitrary.
Iddo Gefen, at The Blogs
Iddo Gefen is a PhD candidate in cognitive neuroscience at Columbia University and author of the novel 'Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory.' His Substack newsletter, Neuron Stories, connects neuroscience insights to human behavior and Jewish identity.
The Blogs: What Ahmed al Ahmed’s brave act tells us about human nature
JTA — We tend to think of human behavior as deeply shaped by group lines. Again and again, research in social psychology and social neuroscience, along with everyday experience, shows how easily people come to see themselves as members of distinct groups, how quickly an “us” and a “them” emerge, and how rapidly loyalty on one side gives way to suspicion on the other, sometimes even when those divisions are thin or arbitrary.
Neuroscience has a name for the way so many Jews are feeling today: learned helplessness
(JTA) — Another week goes by, and with it, the feeling that terrible things are happening and that there’s nothing we can do to change them. That’s how I feel as an Israeli living in New York, and I know many people around me, both here and at home, feel the same. The horrifying videos of Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, along with the other hostages still held by Hamas in inhumane conditions, leave me with a deep sense of helplessness.
Neuroscience has a name for the way so many Jews are feeling today: learned helplessness
JTA -Another week goes by, and with it, the feeling that terrible things are happening and that there’s nothing we can do to change them. That’s how I feel as an Israeli living in New York, and I know many people around me, both here and at home, feel the same. The horrifying videos of Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, along with the other hostages still held by Hamas in inhumane conditions, leave me with a deep sense of helplessness.
Neuroscience has a name for the way so many Jews are feeling today: learned helplessness
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Another week goes by, and with it, the feeling that terrible things are happening and that there’s nothing we can do to change them. That’s how I feel as an Israeli living in New York, and I know many people around me, both here and at home, feel the same. The horrifying videos of Israeli hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, along with the other hostages still held by Hamas in inhumane conditions, leave me with a deep sense of helplessness.
What Can We Hold On to When the World Feels Out of Control?
Why so many of us feel powerless today, and the small steps that can help us regain a sense of control and hope Almost every day I meet someone weighed down by the feeling that something terrible is happening in the world and that there is nothing they can do about it. As an Israeli, I’ll be honest: the humanitarian crisis, the reports of starvation and civilian casualties in Gaza, and the 50 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas leave me feeling powerless in the face of it all.
Opinion: The human brain doesn’t learn, think or recall like an AI. Embrace the difference
Recently, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, whose company builds the chips powering today’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems, remarked: “The thing that’s really, really quite amazing is the way you program an AI is like the way you program a person.” Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and one of the leading figures of the AI revolution, also stated that it is only a matter of time before AI can do everything humans can do, because “the brain is a biological computer.” I am a...
Iddo Gefen: We must not replace our human minds with AI 'brains'
Recently, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, whose company builds the chips powering today’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems, remarked: “The thing that’s really, really quite amazing is the way you program an AI is like the way you program a person.” Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and one of the leading figures of the AI revolution, stated that AI will do everything humans can do, because “the brain is a biological computer.” I am a cognitive neuroscience researcher, and I think...
Commentary: The human brain doesn’t learn, think or recall like an AI. Embrace the difference
Recently, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, whose company builds the chips powering today's most advanced artificial intelligence systems, remarked: "The thing that's really, really quite amazing is the way you program an AI is like the way you program a person." Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and one of the leading figures of the AI revolution, also stated that it is only a matter of time before AI can do everything humans can do, because "the brain is a biological computer." I am a...
Commentary: The human brain doesn’t learn, think or recall like an AI. Embrace the difference
Recently, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, whose company builds the chips powering today’s most advanced artificial intelligence systems, remarked: “The thing that’s really, really quite amazing is the way you program an AI is like the way you program a person.” Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and one of the leading figures of the AI revolution, also stated that it is only a matter of time before AI can do everything humans can do, because “the brain is a biological computer.” I am a...
Commentary: The human brain doesn’t learn, think or recall like an AI. Embrace the difference
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On Memory and Imagination
Hippocampus — a brain region in the medial temporal lobe involved in forming and retrieving memories. While best known for its role in episodic memory, it also involved with spatial navigation, understanding time and sequences, imagining future events, and making decisions based on past experiences. Its name comes from the Greek words for “horse” and “sea monster” because of its seahorse-like shape.
Brains, Stories, and Bagels
Hi! I’m Iddo, and I’m an author and a PhD student in cognitive neuroscience at Columbia University. My second most important life goal is finding the best bagel with cream cheese in New York at any given moment. But my first goal, only slightly more important, is understanding human behavior. Why do we remember? How do we make decisions? What happens in the brain when we dream? These are the questions I think about daily, and I explore them through both my literary writing and my research.
Unpacking the Book: The Ghosts Among Us: Exploring Family Secrets Through Fiction
Join authors Stuart Nadler and Iddo Gefen for a conversation about the secrets families keep from each other to keep them together, and the dire (and not so dire!) consequences those secrets can have. Moderated by writer and podcast host, Stephanie Butnick. Stuart Nadler is the author of three novels and a short story collection. His most recent novel, The Inseparables, was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, and was a finalist for the Mark Twain Prize for the American Voice.
Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory
Review By – March 31, 2025 Known for Jerusalem Beach—an award-winning debut collection of often startling philosophic and speculative short stories — Iddo Gefen returns with his first novel. Mrs.
Mrs. Lilienblum's Cloud Factory
A comic novel for fans of Adelle Waldman about a tech startup that turns sand into rain clouds from Sami Rohr prize winner Iddo Gefen. Our story opens with Mrs. Lilienblum discovered drinking a martini in a crater in the Israeli desert. Eli, her adult son, tries to understand what happened to his wacky mother, while he also tackles the legend of a missing hiker named McMurphy, and whether he might be in love with Tamara, a visitor to his family’s hostel on the edge of a crater.
‘By Any Means Necessary’ at Columbia
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‘By Any Means Necessary’ at Columbia
Last month, a pro-Palestinian activist stood in front of me on Columbia University’s campus with a sign that read By Any Means Necessary . She smiled. She seemed like a nice person. I am an Israeli graduate student at the university, and I know holding that sign is within her rights. And yet, its message was so painful and disturbing that after that moment, I left New York for a few days.
Book Clubs
Find a new favorite or re-discover an old one with our annual selection guide. This annual listing of 16 titles and discussion questions is intended to present a comprehensive view of the current Jewish literary landscape. All of the books are specially selected because of their potential to spark discussion about Jewish life, identity, and culture.
Twelve Memorable Book Covers of 2021
Can a picture say a thousand words? When it’s the cover of a book, that’s sometimes the goal. This past year, designers have taken on the challenge of distilling pages of text into a single image with ingenuity. Beautiful, revealing, and unforgettable, these twelve covers (one for each month of the year!) impressed us in 2021.
Fall 2021 Literature in Translation Preview
September 21, 2021 By Cristina Rodriguez & Emma Ramadan We asked Cristina Rodriguez and Emma Ramadan, the reading minds behind the Trove newsletter, what works in translation they’re looking forward to this Fall. Surprises and great picks abound. Dig in, and be sure to subscribe to Trove via the link below.
A Beach in Jerusalem?
I discovered that there was a beach in Jerusalem a few months after my book was published in Hebrew. One day, as I was visiting my parents, I met my father’s childhood friend from Jerusalem, Yuval. He asked me why I named my debut short story collection Jerusalem Beach. I told him the name came from one of the stories about an elderly woman, named Lilian, who has Alzheimer’s. One of the only memories she has left is of visiting a snowy beach in Jerusalem as a child.
An earthquake of life-changing magnitude
Ever since a catastrophic earthquake hit Nepal in April 2015, the entire Tamang family has been living in a “cottage.” A local engineer determined that their original house, built 60 years ago Manegau village 15 miles east of Kathmandu, was in danger of collapse if another earthquake hit. But what is defined as a cottage in Manegau is far from the comfortable dwelling you might imagine.
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