Our amazing brain has a lot of potential and it’s full of confused thoughts. The point is our brain has lots of resources and no idea how to use 'em. So it needs to try. The confusion of goals of our cognitive system is actually the reason of its success: because there is a very high degree of freedom (read: chaos), our brain is open. It's open to experiment; it's open to trial. But it's also open to be manipulated. Our brain architecture allows huge re-organization of cognitive functions from outside. Our brain is a junkie of stimuli and very promiscuous in re-combining its structures afterwards. That's a good thing, because if you start to dump in your surroundings things and actions, other human brains can be manipulated by them and start a re-configuration.
When our ancestors started to manipulate things, like chopping stones, they have been also manipulated by their actions. The first attempts were clumsy and pointless (why, for god's sake would you chop a stone at all????), but the effort, the pure pleasure of "doing" stuff, led to increase precision and shape prowess. A raw object becomes a tool, say, to cut. The tool has been sharpened and the mind as well.
Human brains started also to disseminate things like dolls, combs, flutes, legends, beliefs. Consequently the minds were sharpened even more. Sharping a brain doesn't make it more powerful, but it can make it smarter, given a certain environment. That's because in the manipulated environments you find stored intelligence. In dolls, combs, flutes and legends, human brains stored some intelligence, ready to manipulate other newcomer brains.
When we use tools, to some extent we are used by tools and led to some pattern of actions. Are we controlled by evil primitive big brothers, who planned from the very beginning how to encapsulate our lives in pre-determined jobs, societies, roles? Of course not! Our brains are too much confused to be led this way: it's only a suggestion, then our clumsiness will twist patterns in to something new. It's difficult to forecast the cognitive outcome of a brain when you sharpen it with chopping stones....
When our ancestors started to manipulate things, like chopping stones, they have been also manipulated by their actions. The first attempts were clumsy and pointless (why, for god's sake would you chop a stone at all????), but the effort, the pure pleasure of "doing" stuff, led to increase precision and shape prowess. A raw object becomes a tool, say, to cut. The tool has been sharpened and the mind as well.
Human brains started also to disseminate things like dolls, combs, flutes, legends, beliefs. Consequently the minds were sharpened even more. Sharping a brain doesn't make it more powerful, but it can make it smarter, given a certain environment. That's because in the manipulated environments you find stored intelligence. In dolls, combs, flutes and legends, human brains stored some intelligence, ready to manipulate other newcomer brains.
When we use tools, to some extent we are used by tools and led to some pattern of actions. Are we controlled by evil primitive big brothers, who planned from the very beginning how to encapsulate our lives in pre-determined jobs, societies, roles? Of course not! Our brains are too much confused to be led this way: it's only a suggestion, then our clumsiness will twist patterns in to something new. It's difficult to forecast the cognitive outcome of a brain when you sharpen it with chopping stones....
No comments:
Post a Comment