brain and evolution

8/7/2019 brain and evolution

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The Human Brain

Human behavior comes from the human brain. This text seeks further definition of man, that

portion of man which resides in his brain. It uses prior information found in separate texts on

genetics, evolution and developmental history, to further understand the current physical

structure of the human neural system. The overall goal of this text, along with others in the

series, is to provide a basis in fact of the nature of man for use in developing those social

studies (education, psychology, sociology, etc.) so necessary for the formation and

maintenance of culture. The basis now used for these study areas is erroneous and the

development of these social studies is now pure conjecture and imagination. This following

study of the brain is confined to those features of the brain which determine or contribute to

human behavior.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

CONCLUSIONS

THE NEURAL SYSTEM BEFORE MAN

EXPLORATION METHODSAN INTRODUCTION TO THE BRAIN

A CASE OF COOPERATIONTHE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

OBTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT

PROVIDING FUNCTION

DIRECTION AND DRIVE: THE CONFLICT OF LIFE

EDUCATING AND TRAINING THE HUMANREFERENCES

Summary of Findings

During the development of the human neural system, there were six eras of improvement in

function:

y 1. The direct reaction to a sensor signal. This earliest development of a neural system was asimple but fast functional response to the stimulation of a sensor. A given sensor signal

resulted in a given fixed action. A pure example of this early neural process is stillobservable in some single-cell animals using photo-synthesis which will sense the direction

of light and swim toward it. Man has many of these reactive neural elements, from the blinkof an eye (a physical movement), to apprehension of the dark (a decision coloration).

y 2. The instinctive response to an inherited pattern which is associated with danger or food.A sensor observes the environment and compares the received sensor pattern with an

inherited pattern. A current example exists in some nesting birds. Wave a cutout in theshape of a hawk over the nest and the chick will cringe. Wave a cutout corresponding to the

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parent's outline and it will make a noise and open its mouth for food. Although superseded(and largely diminished or perverted by mutations as a result of disuse), many still occur in

man in the form of anxieties: sleeplessness during full moon comes from an inherited fearof danger from predators on such nights. Fear of height refers to the arboreal phase of man's

ancestry. Claustrophobia (once an aid to survival) developed when confined in dark caves

along with possible predators.Racial bigotry came from millions of years of militant tribalrelationships, where any difference in personal appearance signaled danger.

y 3. The development of sensory memory and comparison. The fixed danger or need patternwas largely replaced in the higher animals by sensor memory and comparison. Rememberedsensor experiences, all properly graded with descriptions of associated fear, hunger or lust,

are constantly compared with the sensor's current view of the environment. Highlydeveloped in man, it is more limited in the other higher species. This memory is not limited

to experiences within the environment. It is here that the animal may be trained. This entireprocess is instinctive (programmed in neural circuitry). We refer to it as 'intuition' and it is

highly successful in the day to day living experience. It is the most used thought process inman by far, most humans rarely use any other process. We learn to drive a car, prepare our

food, speak a language, and follow the customs of our culture, using this intuitive process.

This is an instinctive (intuitive, fixed process, neural signal reconciliation and conflict

resolution, state function) process, not an intelligent one. It is so refined in man that itappears to him to be intelligent. It is not.

y 4. The ability to imagine, to mentally construct sensor patterns, remember them, and thenuse them as if they were real in the value summation neural circuits, provides a creativity

element in the instinctive value summation process. Observable in the other higher animals,it is most prevalent in predators under great food stress. They will develop intricate hunting

scenarios. If unsuccessful, they will as quickly develop new ones.y 5. Conscious thought, an awareness of identity, a feeling of personal management, is a

relative newcomer, and probably (not at all certain) is more developed in man than in theother higher animals. It grew from the ability to imagine, to create experiences in the sensor

memories. First, imagine a scene. Now, imagine that you are in charge, that you understand.That you need to do something with it. Now imagine the solution. The power this factor

added to the intuitive process is incredible. Man, at least he thinks so, now had the power tostand back and look at himself and the cosmos. Man now had the power to become

objective. Not that he ever wanted to, mind you, but it was now possible.y 6. Then, quite recently, modern man discovered intelligent thought, a rigid methodology

and a mostly painful process. Totally unsung, it came from the artisans (not thephilosophers), while seeking repeatable methods to build dependable products. It required

the learning and application of provable knowledge and a rejection of that which could notbe proven. The engineer was born, vilified by the intellectual from the beginning. The

intelligent thought process is not entertaining, like art, music, sports, literature andphilosophy, and it isn't easy or fun. It requires a measurable and provable basis, thereby

utterly destroying a lot of beautiful and imaginative thought. It requires a careful singlelogical step at a time, a seemingly terrible waste of a soaring and creative mind. It requires

physical verification at every logic step, a terribly boring and rote procedure. And it takes aterrible amount of knowledge preparation. But it produces real and measurable results. And

if something is really important, such as developing safe air flight, it is always used, indeedit is demanded. The education of our children, long an intellectual toy, must someday join


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the list of 'important' things that deserve the same treatment.The uncontrolled application

of imagination and conjecture to an intangible basis, such as now exists in our modern

social studies, is the direct inverse of intelligence and can only breed mischief.

All of these neural processes are interwoven in the human mind in various portions. They are used

simultaneously, and the divisions between them are invisible to us.

We never really know whichelement prevailed in our decision. If we are in our day-to-day mode, we operate entirely intuitively(instinctively). If we want to lean back and look at things, we are in our 'awareness' (subjective)

mode. It is only when we set our conscious minds to it, and rigidly adhere to the process, that weare 'intelligent'. Being 'intelligent' is not an 'easy' process, nor is it fun. It requires effort to learn and

rigid self-control to use. But, it is productive.

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Conclusions

Man is not, by nature (without special training), a logical (reasoning, intelligent) creature. He is,

instead, totally reactive (instinctive, intuitive). His behavior is determined entirely by theinteraction (conflict resolution, competition, cooperation, coordination) between his various

instincts (genetically determined neural mechanisms provided by evolution for behavioralguidance). There is no mechanism for intelligence or memory which is separate from sensory,

motor and instinct mechanisms. Man may be trained (his behavior may be controlled by edict). Hemay be educated (he may be taught knowledge for use as raw material in his decision making). The

untrained and uneducated human is totally instinctive and not capable of objective reasoning orproper cultural behavior under modern social environments. The self-disciplined and educated (if

educated in real knowledge) human is fully capable of both. The human has been provided byevolution with instincts (genetically specified neural mechanisms) which causes him to seek both

training and education (he is a competitive social animal). He is quite capable of logic, reason, andintelligence when he chooses to be so, provided that he learns and follows the necessary discipline

and rigid methodology. Even then, however, he is instinctive in his goals (the need for and theapplication of the reasoning). His instincts provide the direction, drive and power behind his every

action.

Man is, therefore, capable of being superior to any intelligent mechanism or creature, since he isnot limited to functioning only with logic, reason and intelligence, thus allowing unlimited mentalcreativity and exploration. He has no mental limitation in scope, other than in his self-control over

his instincts. Conversely, he is also capable of being an absolute idiot, the more usual case since heis not normally either trained or educated in intelligent thought (solid provable premises, careful

logic steps, frequent verification by measurement, the refusal to consider intuition, imagination andconjecture in other than theoretical and inventive pursuits).

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Unfortunately, man believes that he is naturally intelligent and that he acts intelligently at all times.He does not recognize that all of his social interaction is instinct (intuition) driven. Nor does he

recognize that many of his instincts are archaic and only partially applicable. Nor does he recognizethat whereas logic and reason would always result in uniform behavioral action, the normal (due to

mutations) divergence in instincts across the gene pool of the human, will always produce

divergent answers for the same behavioral questions.

Where his genetically provided behavioraltendencies (instincts) fit the particular social problem, he functions well, but since he is unable tosense the dividing line between his instinctive (intuition, reactive decision summation) and logical

reasoning, he usually substitutes intuition, imagination and conjecture for logic, reason, andintelligence. Then he swears to its authenticity by virtue of his 'intelligence'. Mankind thus

constructs entire fields of study in social interaction (psychology, philosophy, sociology,educational philosophy, political and social 'science', etc.) on false and self-serving premises and

follows with faulty logical development which is rarely if ever verified, and thereby rarely true.

Also, and just as unfortunate, human instincts date from times of great stress and so are primarilyaimed at surviving under that ancient environment. Having overcome most of this environmental

stress through the invention of shelter, clothing, food production and medicine, many of theseinstincts have become detrimental. Others are time-consuming and without social value.

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The Neural System Before Man

Early life, some 3.5 billion years ago, consisted of single living cells. A single cell is a verycomplex assembly of biological material engaged in complex chemical processes. Single cell life

developed, through the process of evolution, over a period of billions of years. See The Evolutionof the Cell for more detail on cell development. The evolution of man from the single cell is far less

a magnificent process than was the development of the cell itself. The development of manrequired, once the cell was established and began forming cooperatives, about 680 million years.

The development of the cell itself required about 3 billion prior years.

The first multicellular animals began appearing about 680 million years ago. These were living

creatures composed of cooperating cells. All of the higher animals, including man, developed from

these. Note the process from the simple to the complex. Note the development, first of collectingindividual biological processes into a single cell, then the construction of creatures from multipleuses of the cell. One by one the biological processes were assembled in the cell, then one by one

the characteristics of all modern life were built from multiple cells.

The human brain was developed through a similar process, from the simple to the complex, alongwith the evolution of the human. The human body is composed of many billions of cells, working

in harmony. The modern human nervous system is composed of about 100 billion neural

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functioning cells, supported by perhaps 10 times that many more.

As man evolved, mutations occurred in the nervous system, causing it to evolve along with thebody. Those mutations were tested against the environment in the same manner as mutations

involving outward physical changes. As ancient ancestors of man gained new and improved

sensors, in order to survive, the neural control of those sensory enhancements developed alongside.As survival required more complex actions and reactions of the overall organism, those also

developed in the form of neural circuitry along with and often a part of the sensory enhancement

circuitry. See The Evolution of Man for more detail on man's development.

The first thing to realize about the brain is that, unlike an organ such as the heart or liver, it is not asingle organ with a single function. It is instead an organ of many thousands of interlocking

functions. These micro-functions developed along the same game plan as the body itself. If featureswere not successful, they were discarded. As features were found to enhance survival, they became

permanent residents. The human body is a giant cooperative consisting of billions of cooperatingcells. The human nervous system, likewise, is constructed of many thousands of cooperating

functions.

This is to be expected, since both were developed by the same process, and thatdevelopment would of necessity be of the same kind and within the same time frame.

The idea that suddenly something entirely new, a wonderful new intelligent mechanism, appearedonly in the lineage of man, has no basis. Other than in proportions of the various parts, the brains of

all of the higher animals are the same in construction.

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Exploration Methods

The function of the brain was not understood as recently as two hundred years ago. Many thought

at that time it was some sort of pump which helped the heart circulate the blood. Our currentunderstanding of the brain is based on the following study methods:

y Determination of the structure of the brain through dissection: This dissection extends tomicroscopically thin slices. All of the elements of the brain structure have been isolated andnamed. This is the oldest direct study method.

y Observation of the functioning brain: Using techniques such as Magnetic ResonanceImaging, the brain may be observed while the subject performs various functions. This is

the most recent form of study. The active portion of the brain during any particular functionwill require more blood and so shows up on the scan. While talking, for example, the

Broca's area on the left frontal lobe shows activity. While reading-aloud, the Broca's area(speech function) and the occipital lobe in both hemispheres (seeing function) will showactivity. While moving the right foot, a particular area in the parietal area of the left

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hemisphere will show activity. There is, at present, an ongoing concerted coordinated effortamong academics to map the functioning areas of the entire brain.

y Cataloging the functional effects of brain trauma: Brain damage from automobile accidentsand strokes is quite common. By carefully noting the effects of damage then performing

post-mortem examinations later, the relationship between regional damage and resulting

neural performance offers good physical correlation.

This is probably the largest source ofcorrelative (function vs location) data available.y As presented here, the study of genetics and evolution combined with the data from the

above studies offers great insight into the construction of the human neural system. Forexample: The eyes developed slowly over time. The neural system which supports (1) eye

control and movement, (2) care (blinking), (3) scene storage (memory) and recall, (4) sceneanalysis, (5) imaginative scene construction, and (6) functional judgment of scene elements,

all developed along with the eye. The neural systems for all of the other senses developed inthe same manner, as did those for all other functioning parts such as legs, arms, etc. The

brain is then the accumulation of all of these systems into one coordinated whole.y Comparative behavioral studies of modern man, primitive man, and other higher organisms

can supply supporting data and guidance, if carefully used only for that purpose andmaintained free of ideological and political tampering. Current studies are far more

'politically correct' than 'scientific'.y Introspection is the most questionable of all thought processes, but is the prevalent modern

opinion source about the functioning of the mind. This is the way of the philosopher,psychologist, educator and sociologist. The mind is turned inward to inspect the mind,

leading to such utterly stupid statements as : "Ebonics is a valid language", "Wholelanguage is superior to phonetics for the teaching of reading.", "It is logically obvious that if

a child receives low grades, he will not be able to learn due to his loss of self-esteem." or"Any fool can see that the reason for teen-age births is the low self-esteem of the young

mother." Unfortunately, such intuitive (for some) observations form the basis for all moderneducation and, therefore, the social direction of man. Worse still, that education then forms

the culture of the next generation, leading inevitably to a spiral downward of everincreasingly foolish 'knowledge' being taught to the ever increasingly receptive.

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An Introduction to the Brain

The size of the modern human adult brain is about 1350 cc. It is a spongy mass (and not verypleasing in appearance). The brain of Ramidus, the walking ape/man of4.5 million years ago, was

about 400 cc. in size, that of Homo habilis, the first human at about 2 million years ago , was about575 cc. The largest human brain was in the Neandertal at about 8% larger than the Homo sapien

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The left side of a human brain is shown. The brain stem is a communications trunk between the

brain and the rest of the body. Two of the five senses which provide current environment

information from the outside world (eyes and ears) are connected directly to the periphery of thebrain. Taste, smell and touch come from outside the brain cage (the upper skull). Each element of

each sense has a direct connection to the brain. Each small area on the body has its own touchsensor. Taste provides about 40,000 individual sensors, the eyes well over two hundred million.

The senses are connected into the brain in parallel. All sensing elements enter the brain at the sametime. There is no time sharing or switching. The eyes are connected in one area, the ears to another,

etc.

The brain consists of many parts, the most conspicuous division being the two hemispheres, which

forms the cortex (outer surface). The cortex is folded to get more surface area. It functions as if itwas a flattened surface. It is at the surface that the cortex brain cell bodies are especially situated,

while the internal parts of the cortex carry the connections between the cells. The division of braincell bodies and their connections causes the cortex to be either white matter (connections) or gray

matter (active neural cells on the outer surface). See the latter part ofMan, the Digital Machine formore detail on the neural cell mechanism and its functions.

The brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left one is shown. The hemispheres can be divided

into lobes, corresponding roughly with deep fissures: temporal (side), occipital (back), parietal(top), and frontal.

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A Case of Cooperation

Usually it is best to approach a complex problem by way of simple detail first, then the

combinations leading to the complex. The end result of that approach in the study of the brain is sobizarre with respect to the way we appear to ourselves, that it becomes confusing. If one should be

unsuspecting, much is lost in the explanation of the detail.

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The cause of this unusual situation is the manner in which the brain developed. It was not built atone time, nor as a single object. It is not an entity that one can explain as an entity. Neural decision

mechanisms in mobile complex organisms have been around more than 680 million years. Thehuman developed from one of those early creatures. Early neural mechanisms were quite simple.

Evolution, over time and with much trial and error experimentation, increased the number of neural

components while constantly increasing the complexity of each.

The end result, the human brain, isa cooperative of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 'mini-brains'. The cooperative is so much in tunethat it appears and functions as one.

The human brain, then, is a cooperative composed of perhaps thousands of individual reactive

decision mechanisms, each with its own memory, interconnection with all others, and judgement.The voting of these mechanisms is so fast and so in harmony that we perceive the entire system as

being the thought of one mechanism, which, in effect, the overall system becomes.

As we use our minds, it is obvious to us that we are one. There is no hint that we are actually many,in fact a great many, and that our consciousness (awareness) is the summation (vote) of these

entities in the closest possible cooperation.

To gain this concept of more than one contributing toour single consciousness, consider the partitioning of the brain into hemispheres.

Figure 2:

Three views of the brain are shown in figure 2. As can be seen, most of the brain is split into two

hemispheres, the left and right, by a deep fissure. In general, the left half of the brain is associatedwith things on the right side of the body and the right half is associated with things on the left side

of the body. This inversion idea also extends to sight, where the image processing area on thesurface of the occipital lobes is both inverted and reversed.

Between these two halves and hidden from view, there is a massive communication link, the corpuscallosum, which connects the two, allowing information to pass between.Under normal conditions,

anything known by one side is also known by the other, and as quickly. Our self, then, is composedof two thinking mechanisms, so totally interconnected that it appears to us to be one. Indeed, it

functions as one.

Certain forms of epilepsy do not respond to drug therapy and surgery becomes necessary. One ofthe surgical procedures consists of severing a large portion of the corpus callosum, thereby almost

completely isolating one half of the brain from the other. There is an optimum ratio severed. Toomuch will unduly harm the function of the patient, whereas, too little will not sufficiently diminish

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the rate and severity of seizures.

Whereas formerly each side of the brain was kept informed of the happenings to the other by wayof the corpus callosum, they are now partially isolated. Bizarre effects result. Things seen only with

the left eye (right hemisphere) become difficult, if not impossible, to verbalize (the left hemisphere

contains the speaking vocabulary).

Things seen with only the right eye are not recognized whenviewed again with only the left. It is now possible for one half of the brain to have experiences andlearn things that will never be known by the other.

Adjustments are made quickly. The patient begins to talk a lot. It is a way of overcoming the

communication difficulty introduced by the surgery. When the right eye sees anything, the left sideof the brain will verbalize it (speech center is on left side of the brain). The left ear picks up the

verbal symbols (phonemes), then the right side of the brain knows how to verbalize it also. A newvocal and external communication link is established between the two sides that partially offsets the

internal one that has been partially disabled.

The point is that these two sides of the brain are now separate entities with respect to consciousthought. They still have common control of the bodily functions and they still think they are onebeing, but external communication between the two is now necessary for cooperation.

Before the corpus callosum was severed, the two sides of the brain functioned as an entity.

Behavioral decisions were in perfect and immediate harmony, so harmonious in fact that thedivision between the two is intellectually and consciously invisible.

Keep this in mind, as we turn toward studying the entire nervous system. The idea of separate

entities cooperating so closely that they function as one is a common theme, repeated many times,throughout the brain.

The evolution of the human body was incredible in its complexity. As we study the process we arecontinually amazed at the intricacy of its action and the beauty of its final product. As astounding

as that process was and its product is, both are as nothing compared to the evolution of the humanneural system and its product. The awesome complexity and exquisite beauty of the human neural

system is staggering.

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The Development of the Nervous System

Fig.3



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Figure 3 shows a primitive nervous system. This system has been around more than a half-billion

years and is still used by many primitive creatures. This is a reactive system, as are all nervous

systems. The sensor sees a condition, such as heat, light or touch, and passes that informationdirectly to a fixed process which converts this real time information directly into a motor controlcommand. There are single-cell animals, for example, which live by eating others. They move

aimlessly around until they feel that they have bumped into something and then start chompingaway on whatever is next to them. There are others that rely on light to power their photo-synthesis

energy system. These will sense which direction has the most light and then swim toward it.

This decision module is fixed. It does not learn, it only reacts to the current environment asreported by the sensor. It is not intelligent. It is, instead, merely reactive. In electronic engineering

terms it is a state machine. With a given set of input information, it produces a certain fixedresponse. The decision mechanism is not an intellectual device which manipulates data while

udging its end effect, it is a fixed circuit which sums the input data (some of which may be asummation done separately elsewhere) and delivers a particular action command for each set of

input data. Evolution always builds on existing material. This miniature nervous system set thepattern for all mobile life, billions of years ago. As life became more complex, more terms (things

to be considered in decision making) were added to this decision matrix. An advanced modern formof mobile life may have a decision matrix composed of thousands of lessor decision mechanisms,

each with hundreds or perhaps thousands of other terms needed for the decision. As new deviceswere added (arms, legs, etc.) and new sensors were added (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) new terms were

added into the decision mechanism. The decision matrix is not a device which is located in oneplace. It is diffused throughout the brain with major portions located close to major complex

functions.

Note! This form for the behavior controlling device is surmised from observation and study of the

evolution process. We do not know how the brain works as yet. We do know however:

y (1) Evolution does no planning. (2) Its mutations (changes) are random, in general. (3) Themutations occur on existing material. (4) Evolution does not develop functions not currently

needed. (5) The environment selects (allows to live) mutations which are helpful forsurvival. These five statements together strongly imply the gradual development of a

decision system and as strongly denies the possibility of the sudden invention of a superthinking machine which the organism later advances into using.

y The primitive nervous system works as we have described. Starting with the lowest order ofmobile animals and observing the change in nervous systems from those to the mostadvanced (including man) there are only gradual changes in system complexity. It isreasonable to assume that evolution works the same in all species. Therefore man is an

extension of the same process.y As nervous systems became more complex through evolution, the new functions were

added to the old, so there is no reason to believe that the methodology changed, nor is thereevidence of any different kind of structure.

y In examining brain trauma (strokes and accidents), mainly through autopsy after the

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patient's debilitation had been chronicled, the existence of specialized portions of the braincan be demonstrated, and has been known for a long time.

y Physical measurement basis for these assumptions may be observed by various forms ofmagnetic resonance imaging. See Magnetic Imaging Techniques.

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Obtaining Information About the Environment

Fig.4

As the sensors became more complex (capable) the signals they generated also became much morecomplex, becoming increasingly more difficult to feed into a decision matrix directly. Evolution is

a reactive process, it does not plan ahead nor does it build in excess of requirements. Rather thanbuild a huge decision mechanism in order to handle unnecessary detail and allow for future needs,

it, in its trial and error method of development, was forced to adjust the amount of the detail (datacompression) before entering the decision mechanism. It became necessary to preprocess this

sensor data into a more compact symbolic form. Consider the human eye for example. Although it,

along with its preprocessor, is an integrating device (summation, data compression), it producessimilarly to a sampling device (such as a TV camera) operating at about twenty frames per second.With about 110 million sensor elements per eye and a color definition equivalent to at least 8 bits

per primary color, a data flow into the decision matrix equivalent to 2,000 megabytes per secondwould be an overwhelming load to provide for using slow biological circuitry (would require a 200

mhz.Pentium for eye processing alone). Add millions of other inputs from taste, hearing and touchand the decision matrix would become monstrously large and also monstrously slow. Only a small

percentage of that information from the eye is needed for proper decision making, and the smallerthe decision matrix the faster its throughput. Data compression is a part of the data preprocessing

from each of the sensor sets. The resultant compressed symbol representing current sensor status isparticularly customized, through fixed processing, for the needs of the host. For example, the scene

processed through a cat's eye, though the eye is similar to the human in capability and construction,would be preprocessed into an entirely different judgment symbol with different accents tailored to

the needs of the cat. Of necessity, this compression (scene analysis) must also make allowances forurgency at the time, more detail being needed in times of danger, for example.

Sensor preprocessing is performed in certain specified areas of the gray matter of the brain. These

areas are trainable memory, genetically set aside for the specific purpose. They are geneticallyorganized and assigned circuitry, not useful for anything else and not replaceable through retraining


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elsewhere if damaged. The preprocessing (data compression, symbol generation, data integration,data analysis, sensor judgment) for the human eye takes place in the occipital lobe of each

hemisphere (see figure 1). The occipital lobes are well developed in all mammals. Althoughprimary areas for various preprocessors are relatively fixed in location in the brain between

individuals, there is variation both in location and size. Also, the total area used for preprocessing

for certain senses are not localized.

In scanning the human brain for metabolic activity whileperforming various functions, it appears that some preprocessing is scattered, indicating that theevolutionary development process for the function was not uniform but occurred in sporadic time

episodes. The mutation which produced the improvement in a given preprocessing function did nothappen at an aesthetically pleasing location, but once established was the likely loci for future

beneficial mutations.

The sensor and its preprocessor are integrated, providing a given function. The capability of theintegrated function effects behavior. The limitations of that capability are input terms for

consideration in the decision matrix. The sensors may in turn be controlled as a part of the output ofthe decision matrix. Turning the eyes toward a danger and concentrating mental attention there

would be an example.

The preliminary training for these preprocessor areas takes place during the early development ofthe individual. For example, the focusing and movement of the eyes along with sight correlation

usually takes at least a year. The coordination of the eye with body movement takes much longer.Although this is training, it is mechanical training and has little to do with intellect. Further

physical training and adjustment occurs throughout life.

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Providing Function

Fig.5

Figure 5 shows the addition of a motor controller between the decision matrix and the motor to be

controlled. As the organism became more complex, the output of the decision matrix was requiredto drive ever more complex devices and to coordinate those devices. If the complexity of the drive

signals was required of the decision matrix, it would need be enormously wide, complex and slow.The human voice alone, for example, requires many thousands of simultaneous signals in the

formation of phonemes. A simple command to say, "ah" is enormously complex with tongue andmouth position, breath control, etc. Similarly, the movement and focusing of the eyes would require


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many thousands of instructions. These are provided by an eye controller mechanism rather thandirectly from the decision matrix.

Here again, trial and error adopted the controller option, a post-processor device, by building a

device which performs the detail translation from decision to performance. The phoneme processor

is an excellent example.

It is located primarily in man on the lower portion of the left frontal lobe,whereas in woman it is located in roughly equal parts on each side of the brain in the same locationon both frontal lobes. Other small patches of the brain show that they are also a part of this same

mechanism. When the decision mechanism makes the decision to say, "ah", the phoneme processortranslates that phoneme demand into the multitude of muscular controls needed to accomplish that

task. This controller is trained as the child learns to talk. The basic speech elements may beobtained in less than two years. Vocabulary additions and pronunciation corrections may be made

throughout the life of the individual.

Each motor device (leg, arm, finger, eye, tongue, etc.) has a trainable controller for the expansionand translation of the command to that device , an area of gray matter set aside and specifically

designed for that function.

It has been shown that the act of seeing provides a scaled version of the scene along the gray matter

surface of the occipital lobe. If a subject is given a map to study then asked to trace the route from agiven location on the map to another both with the eyes and from memory, it takes the same

amount of time either way. If a portion of the visual area in the occipital lobe is damaged, it can beshown that that the seeing is damaged in an exact reflected way, even though the eyes were not

damaged.

An important finding with respect to the eyes is that if a perception area is damaged (in the surfacelayer of the occipital lobes), not only is the visual perception damaged, but any scene memory will

show defects in that same area.

This indicates that sensory memory is a part of the sensoryperception mechanism. All of our memory scenes are stored in that same layer. It is an easy step,

then, to the generalization that all sensory memory is stored in the sensory perception area for thatsensor. A memory recalled which is complete with sight, touch, sound and smell is an assembly

from the various sensory memories.

A final important finding: if a visual perception area in the occipital lobe is damaged, the subjectnot only loses the ability to see in the damaged portion, and is not able to recall any historical scene

detail in that same area but from before the damage, the subject is also unable to 'imagine'(construct a mental scene) in that damaged area. This gives insight into the human creative process.

The human 'builds' a scene in the sensory areas as he invents.

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Direction and Drive: the Conflict of Life

A very large percentage of the brain, perhaps more than 90%, is required for body maintenance(heart, respiration, etc.), information gathering (sensors and data preprocessing), memory, and

motor control (legs, arms, etc. post-processing and command translation). These together describethe physical abilities and limitations of the individual. The senses determine the amount and quality

of current environmental information. The physical construction and mobility of the bodydetermines the behavioral capability and capacity of the individual.

But man's behavior goes much deeper. It is the balance of the brain which provides much of what

becomes behavior.

The simple organism shown in figure 3 did not need an impetus to do what it should do and itsguiding mechanism did not provide decision conflict, the basic element of 'intelligence' in animals.

In this simple animal, the sensor gave not only information but also supplied it in such a way that it

provided the command signal required to satisfy the error in that information. Implicit in thesensor's data was the command to do a specific thing about it. These are referred to as reflexactions, actions taken in direct and immediate response to a given sensor input. The blink of the eye

to prevent injury to it when something moves toward it is an example. The jerk of the hand awayfrom something hot is another.

As organisms, and their perceived environment, became more complex, animals developed arepertoire of actions. The decision on which to do became necessary before the command could be

issued on what to do. There were conflicts in the environment and often there were choices whichneeded to be made. As multiple requirements grew, the central decision matrix gained terms to be

considered.

The first drives (instincts) developed in genetically specified form were the ones that concernedbody functions.Safety, food, sex, and care of youngare some of the focal points, all under the

general headingsurvival. Decision conflict was the method which developed as the result ofevolution.

The decision conflict between safety and food was probably the first developed. Before thisdecision conflict developed, the animal always sought food. As predators developed around them,

those whose only function was finding food continually blundered into disaster. The idea ofsurvival or safety had not been developed. The first animal which moved around as it sought food

but changed directions rapidly when a moving shadow appeared, tended to survive better than those

that doggedly stayed on path regardless of movement around them.

Whereas before, the signals from the senses were translated directly into commands for motion and

eating, now this translation depends to a certain degree on a new factor. We call that factorfear.The emphasis is hunger, the conflict is fear. As long as the hunger is greater than the fear, the

animal forages. When the fear emotion exceeds his hunger, the animal will flee. The animal is nolonger ever completely comfortable, since it lives in a constant decision conflict between hunger

and fear.Under a comfortable environment, the fear is small and the appetites may be attended to.


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Under a stressful environment, the two are balanced, and the animal is extremely uncomfortable,barely able to decide whether he wishes to eat, or to be eaten. This, historically, has been the

position of man, constant fear and constant hunger, each ebbing and flowing with the experiencesof the day. (Investors on the stock market play the same game today.) The modern attitude of

mental conflict avoidance, espoused by modern psychologists and philosophers, is a perversion.

TGIF is a death mantra.

Man needs that inner conflict, it is the essence of his life.

His value, then,lies in his unique solution. Without conflict, what difference does a solution make? Who cares?

The forage/danger conflict along with the fear function which regulates the balance between thosefactors is one we see often. Feed a wild animal or bird in your back yard and you will enslave him.

Your backyard becomes a foraging location of relative safety and some constancy, neither of whichexists elsewhere in his habitat. The forage/danger ratio becomes quite desirable in his decision

matrix and the animal will strive to enjoy it. Feed the animal a constant amount regularly, and thecrowd will increase as others gather for a handout. As the crowd grows, the food for each shrinks.

The crowd will continue to grow even when the amount of food available for each approaches astarvation diet. Soon, it's a battle royal between competing animals. A similar process exists in

human welfare systems.

All welfare systems, regardless of the species involved, will tend to growwithout limit. It is natural that they do and the growth should be expected.

Evolution then favored three kinds of changes to the animal:

y Instincts which provide for problem avoidance: If the animal became more adept atidentifying his danger so that he more often fled when he should and less often fled when

there was no need, he had more time to find food and tended to survive better. This wasgained by developing a fixed mental sensory image which more closely resembled the

danger, so that sensory input could be compared and the decision could more easily bemade between danger and no danger. The actual sensory image, in this case, was compared

with the genetically fixed (instinctive) memory pattern.

The amplitude of the output signal(fear) was in direct proportion to the degree which the two matched.

y Instincts which favored problem solving: If the animal became more adept at identifying hisfood, he became more efficient in his foraging and made better use of the time he was not

fleeing from danger; therefore he tended to survive better. The food image was developed inthe same manner as the danger image above: an image in fixed memory (actually composed

of many images related to the senses) to which the sensory image could be compared.y Instincts which caused the organism to be more dynamic: If the decision matrix became

more sophisticated so that the flee or eat decision was brought into sharper focus, the animalwasted less time in fleeing without diminishing his safety from being eaten and thereby

became more efficient in the use of his time. This was done in part by developing ahysteresis in the decision mechanism which diminished the fear, even though danger was

allowed to be recognized as being present, until the danger reached a certain threshold. Thusbravery was born, the instinct which allows function in the face of danger.

Once these three trends (natural occurrences of behavior modifying instincts under the selection

process) became established, all of the modern higher animals, including the human, becameprobable. These three instincts become more adept with time, and many new instincts grew from

these. Where are these various instincts located? Most sensory and motor signal processors contain


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that portion of the instinct which effects them in the analysis of their requirements. It is believedthat the central portions of the instinct set reside in the frontal lobes.

Chance mutations when life was young developed the sexual animal. The prior cell division

method of reproduction had resulted in great stability in the various forms of life. The sexual

animal provided more variations, to try out against the environment, than the asexual reproductioncould provide. Most variations were worse and quickly died out but some were improvements andthese tended to survive by crowding out the asexual animal. In the beginning, sex was for the

purpose of reproduction. Early animals had no notion of reproduction. Sexual drive was providedgenetically (another instinct). Those who engaged in a lot of sex had a lot of offspring and therefore

tended to thrive as a species. The others tended to disappear as a species. The selection processfavored a strong sexual lust, in most species. It became so strong in many species that it

transcended food and even danger. Increased sexual drive tends to be intensified by the process ofevolution, to a point. If it becomes too strong, it creates problems which in turn may be so serious

that the continuation of the lineage is harmed. In that case, the evolutionary process will tend toeliminate those species with lusts which are too strong. Lust becomes another factor in the decision

matrix.

If a species has so many offspring that sheer numbers provide the species continuation, then theparent is quite casual toward them.Plants follow this path, with some plants providing millions of

seeds each year with the hopes that in their lifetime at least one of those will live to bear seeds also.Rabbits are known for this approach. Male mammal sperm also follow the route that success

depends on large numbers. Other animals, such as the human, dolphin and elephant, bear only afew young which require lengthy care to become adult and have their own offspring. These

offspring require lengthy personal care, in turn requiring a great attachment between parent andyoung. Those parents who do not have this attachment, do poorly in raising their offspring and their

genetic lineage tends to die out. Those who have great attachment are more successful in raisingtheir young and their lineage tends to prosper. Thus parental love became an instinctive driving

force in the decision matrix and now competes (conflicts) with all selfish instincts. Since thisinstinct was developed during tribal conditions where the intermingling of cooperating families was

necessary, parental love in the human extends to all children, and in fact, somewhat extends to theyoung of other species. Almost everyone loves a puppy.

What is the extent of the development of neural behavior mechanisms (how many instincts arethere?) in the brain? It is not that simple. Take the one we call parental love for example. It, like all

instincts, invokes an emotion when triggered.Usually it is triggered by a sensory input: we see achild, we smell the characteristic odor of a baby, we feel the softness of their skin, we hear it gurgle

in baby laughter. These sensory experiences are decoded in the various sensory control areas. Thereis no central location for the instinct, it is distributed but inter-linked. And the instinct itself is not

discrete. We categorize instincts, as we do almost everything whether the process fits or not, as ameans of segmenting knowledge for ease in communication and understanding. Segmenting

instincts in the human mind is an intellectual aid but does not reflect physical condition. Theinstinct of compassion, for example, is an instinct developed under tribal conditions for the purpose

of sharing tribal goods (which enhanced the ability of the tribe to survive). Its roots are in parentallove (care for the helpless child). So where does one leave off and the other begin? Instinctive man

is a skull full of lumpy instinctive stew.


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EDUCATING AND TRAINING THE HUMAN

There is a physical change in gray matter with use. Cells in the outer thin area of the cortex which

are extensively used during a given action show visible change under the microscope.

A classic experiment involved a large group of mice. They were first divided into two groups ofequal size. Both groups were placed in identical containers and given identical food and water. One

container was bare. The other contained many toys and innovative runs. After a period of time, halfof each group was sacrificed and their brains examined. There was a decided difference in the

appearance of the brains. Cells in the 'busy' group appeared much more robust. The containers werethen swapped and the remainder of the mice returned. After the same period of time as the first part

of the experiment, the balance of the mice in each group was sacrificed and their brains examined.It was found in each case that the appearance of the brains had shifted back. The brains from the

formerly sedentary mice had become more robust with the new stimulation and the formerly robustbrains had shifted to the appearance of those from the sedentary container in the first half of the

experiment. (This should tell you something about how we should handle criminal prisoners.)

The Broca's area is a neural mechanism which provides the function of motor processor for thehuman voice mechanism. It receives a word in the form of a string of phonemes as input, then

provides the multitude of exquisitely timed and controlled commands to chest, tongue and throatmuscles to properly form the word. Applying the knowledge gained from the mouse experiment,

one would expect that there would be physical difference between the Broca's area of the averageperson and that of an opera singer. Such is the case. There is a marked difference.

Evolution is inventive in the sense that it is chaos squeezed through a filter. Mutations are accidentsand are, therefore, bereft of reason. The environment is what it is, and no more. It has no planning,

and, also, no reason. But, when the mutations apply to the environment for survival, most are foundwanting, and they perish. The end result of the entire process appears to be inventive. (The fact is

this is the way man invents things, too. He idiotically runs through a bunch of impossibles beforefinding the invention he was looking for.) Once evolution finds a solution, a mechanism which is

successful in surviving, it does not strike off looking for a new way to do things. It always works

from (happens to) that which already exists. If by chance it should find a better method, thecreature incorporating the new and superior idea crowds out the old. It's a competitive world. Sorest assured, if one way solves a problem in the body, you will not find another way to do the same

thing anywhere in the body. The same process will be used wherever needed.

If the Broca's area responds to activity, in the same manner as the brains of the mice, then all otherneural mechanisms which perform the same kind of function (a set of signals in, processed to a new

set of signals out) will respond in a like manner. Observation of other motor areas bear this theory



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out.

If the Broca's area gets damaged, you are through talking. No other brain area can be trained to takeits place. In the same manner, no matter the activity (education, practice or training), the Broca's

area can't be trained to do a different function.

An instinct is a neural mechanism. It is not a reasoning mechanism. It receives a set of signals andproduces another set of signals. It can be exercised. It can be strengthened. If made inactive through

inattention, it will atrophy to a low level influence. It can't be trained into a new function. If theinstinct is one that fits the culture, it can be strengthened through attention and use. An instinct

which is deleterious can be over-ridden by conscious control (unless defective, the human is quitetrainable). Education on the facts of man and his fit in the universe will in most cases supply the

information for proper control of the instincts (and consequent acceptable behavior).

Racial bigotry is an instinct formed during the two million years that man developed from habilis to

sapien as a tribal warrior and hunter. Tribal militancy was the necessary norm. Modern educators

waste time trying to educate it into something else, an impossibility.

The most they can do is makethe child lie and feel inferior because he 'thinks wrong'. It is possible that the instinct isstrengthened every time the attempt is made to educate it. Forget educating the instinct and train the

child's behavior. Tell him it may be understandable but any form of racially bigoted behavior isforbidden. With proper behavior the instinct will wither.

It is clear from this description, that man learns best (whether in knowledge, motor skill or instinct

control) through repetition. In fact, practice (repetition) is the only way that it can 'learn'. Ask anybasketball player, pianist or mathematician. The neural mechanisms in each instance, though

specialized, operate on the same principle. Only the modern educator scoffs.

Conclusion: Our current public education system is preciselybackwards in intent, content and method.

Nature is inexorable. The process of evolution produces life forms which can survive within the

fixed constraints of nature. Some life forms, such as plants, adapt themselves to fit the requirementsof nature. Others adapt nature to fit themselves to a certain extent. The most successful of the latter

has been man. Man has been developed to be the greatest problem solver yet produced byevolution.

The construction of man's neural system shows his nature specifically. It is composed of thousands

of individual neural functions, each of which has one goal in mind: the solution of a particular setof survival problems or portion thereof. Man is a problem solver, pure and simple. As long as the

problems were outside of man, he conquered them all, one by one. These problems lend themselvesto objective attack. A constant and reliable food supply became available through agriculture and

animal husbandry. Fire for warmth and cooking was developed. Shelter was constructed fromavailable materials. Medicine was developed. Tools that make tasks easier were invented.

Man is a successful problem solver. He has overpopulated the world and dominates all other life.


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He is successful to the point of negating the cleansing portion of his own evolution. See TheDegeneration of ManHe is faced with species extinction if he does not solve this problem.

All of man's remaining problems are those he has generated himself. These are problems which he

is not equipped naturally to solve. Man does well in objective pursuits. He can build a better rabbit

snare, and a rocket to fly to the moon.

But, in spite of the fact that he believes he is brilliantlyintelligent in all things, he is dumb as a rock when it comes to subjective problems. He is notequipped. Those problems did not exist when man evolved and evolution now supplies problems,

not solutions. His conflict summation matrix (intuition), all thousands of elements, were designedfor an entirely different set of problems. Man's philosophy and psychology, as they are defined

today, are no more and can be no more than pure drivel.

Since man's nature is that of solving problems, and he has solved the ones provided by nature, thosefor which he was designed to solve, it is natural that he tend to take the easy way. Relax. Indulge in

food and drink. Let somebody else do it. And then there are the three ultimate cop-outs - suicide,drug dependency and socialism. All three give away man's freedom and vitality in return for

producing nothing.

Man is born to be challenged.

Take conflict (competition) away from man andthose attributes which make him human will atrophy.

As a superb problem solver of outside things which effect him, man removed the problems. Thatremoval may have been his death call. In turning his 'intelligence' from the solving of objective

problems, he has generated fatal subjective problems. He has two solutions from which to choose,if he wishes to survive:

y 1. Return to the law of the jungle and recreate the life of the last two million years, with allits death and misery. This means forsaking a rich standard of living, abandoning medicine,rejecting a compassionate culture and requiring a reduction in population to a small

percentage of that now.

The natural forces of evolution would then cleanse his gene pooland keep it lean. Man, as a species, would survive indefinitely, or

y 2. Develop and enforce rigid and objective social thinking, translate man's problems intoobjective goals, then treat himself as his own worst enemy, always skeptical of all that he

does. This solution does not mean forsaking a rich standard of living or a compassionatesociety.

Man's social thought must be restructured. His cultural structure must be rebuilt. He needs

to scrap his non-science education system and enlarge his scientific studies, with all of its

rigor, to cover subjective man himself. Educational psychology, for instance, should be an

engineering field, with all of the skepticism, rigor and methodology that shift implies. Allow

traditional teaching techniques to remain until enough is known. Force the proving of new

teaching methods before applying them. Above all, do not allow academics to reshape the

culture.

.


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REFERENCES

The Whole Brain Atlas - Harvard

Tel-Aviv University

Washington University

Evolution (Biosciences) This WWW Virtual Library page offers links to genetics and the theory of

evolution.

Human Behavior and Evolution Society Title Page

MendelWeb

Basic Neural Processes Tutorials and Basic Neural Processes Tutorials II

John Krantz at Hanover College has provided students with tutorials on neural functioning and theaction potential, an excellent introduction to information processing in the nervous system. He has

even provided a quiz:Neuron Structure Quiz.

A variety of methods, such as Xray, CAT, MRI, and PET, for imaging the body and the brain arenow available. Many of these can be explored through the WWW. A fabulous listing of relevant

sites is available at the Centre of Medical Imaging Research, University of Leeds

Many Other Interesting Links

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URL: http://www.onelife.com/evolve/brain.html



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