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Apple Fanboys vs. Microsofties: A Scientist’s Verdict

Chris Matyszczyk

Since embracing Incorrectness, I have noticed that the passion of those who love either Microsoft (MSFT) or Apple (AAPL) seems even to exceed a Goth’s passion for black eyeshadow.

The more I have come to know the two sides, the more their mutual standoff resembles the kind of love-hate continuum embraced nightly by those two remarkably large-headed souls, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

Now, research led by Professor Semir Zeki of University College London may help to illustrate and explain the inflamed emotions that surround two mere technology brands.

It appears that, although love and hate seem to be rather opposing feelings, some of the same nervous circuits in the brain are responsible for both emotions.

The lovely thing is that the two radical heights of intensity both seem to involve two of the most pornographically named parts of the brain’s sub-cortex: the putamen and the insula.

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