Evolution may not be a popular idea among large numbers of people but they won't get to vote on it. Evolution is a word, like many others, that means very different things to very many different people. I don't just mean the deniers. I mean the believers as well Why do I say this? Because our concepts of evolution are constantly evolving. I have the advantage of having been a biologist for over 50 years so I think I can speak from both personal experience as well as one who should know by profession. Last night we saw the world changing one more time. The President spoke to us in a way no one has ever spoken before. That statement is true at a number of levels and there is only limited value in trying to exhaust them here so I'll focus on a set of interrelated ideas that the speech brings to mind. The evolution I find most interesting at this late stage of my career as a neuroscientist is the evolution of the human brain. No not the material brain and its clear biological evolution which is so much slower than the evolution of its function as related to its interaction with the rest of the world which is now very fast. Read on below and I'll explain what I mean.
First let us cut through myths about structure function relationships in the brain. Many were taught that function in the brain is localized and certain areas are associated with certain functions. In fact, this is partially true and important in understanding the brain's function. The problem is that taking the idea too far has often held back understanding. Recent work, arising in part out of modern complexity theory has led us to understand a very important concept, that of "plasticity". Lots of more recent attention has been focused on this neuroplasticity especially in the areas of treatment after brain damage due to stroke and trauma but also there is a lot being done in learning theory especially for the very young.
Evoultion of the brain is an area of study that also carries a lot of historical baggage. Here is just one exaample of what one can find out thereThe Evolution Of The Human Brain
Like everything else in nature, the human brain can only be truly understood by tracing its evolutionary pattern. It is a structure that has adapted over time to perform a variety of vital functions, while at the same time being compelled to survive by selectively
ridding itself of its more gratuitous functions
. These selection procedures, in turn, enhanced the functional capabilities of the nervous system in accordance with the changing needs of mankind.
This passage is loaded with implications that can easily lead us astray. The idea of
ridding itself of its more gratuitous functions
This notion is in keeping with a trend that has had large scale consequences in the way we look at ourselves. This is especially true with respect to the way we have come to relate to the world around us and the way we treat the whole issue of Global Warming, for example. This brings us back to the President's speech. I have no idea what the President really thinks about the issue of Global Warming and Climate Change, but I have a suspicion it is different from what I think in significant ways.
Let me direct you to a book that approaches these issues in an entirely different way: Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology. This is a book that asks some important questions about us and our brains. It is based very much on personal experience but not out of touch with what we are learning the more traditional scientific ways.
I'll not try to review the book, others have done that very well many times. I'd just like to free associate some of Abram's ideas with those developing elsewhere and come back to elaborate if there is interest.
Abram's thesis, as I understand it, is that as we evolve functionally and adapt to modern society, we shut down older skills due to lack of use, but we do not necessarily lose them. His anecdotes try to reawaken the sleeping spirituality and sensitivity to the world we are part of.
In particular, at the end of the book he reviews three stages of how we use our brain to communicate and to relate to the rest of the world. (I have to over simplify, sorry). Much of the change we have experienced is the transition from oral tradition to reliance on the printed word. The third phase, of course, is electronic and it itself has had its transitions starting with radio, then TV and now all the world of the computer and internet. Clearly the last phase makes communication effectively instantaneous.
There is much to be said about these phases but let us focus on just one important idea. There are parts of our brain that were very active during the first phase that also were more in touch with the rest of the natural world for a variety of reasons. One result of freezing these oral aspects of our history in print was to stop the obvious relationship between the narratives and nature. As much as books, for example have done to keep us in touch with distant events and ideas, they do so in a very different manner.
The President's speech last night touched me in very unexpected ways. His words I could have read later but it was more than the words. I have many differences with our President and even reservations about how hard he will try to see the ideas expressed in those words realized. What I found myself feeling was an active desire for those words to be true and for the future to be as he had me hope for.
That is why I went back to Abram's book today to try to understand what I experienced in that context. I was gratified to see that what Obama touched in me was was more "primitive" (in the sense of fundamental) than words in a speech alone could do. They resonated with deeper values and wishes in me.
That brings us to the punch line. If change is to happen with regard to our ability to live with a smaller footprint then we have to call upon areas of our mind that we probably have not called upon for a long time if ever. I firmly believe they are there. I firmly believe we can live in harmony with our world. The question is how do we get there. Unfortunately that question was neither asked nor answered last night. Maybe it will come?