What is Humanity?

HUMANITY AND THE HUMAN BRAIN by Dr Ashraf Virmani

3 Oct 2001 (still being finished)

Introduction

1.      Evolution of the brain (Homo-Sapiens) and the Neanderthal

2.      Is the brain different in different races  

3.      Learning, Memory, Intelligence  

4.      Brain weakness - Faulty memory, Conditioning 

(how it is used in war and selling soap powders)

 5.      Will we evolve to a higher consciousness or does this come from self reflection (Buddha, Gandhi etc)

6.      Where does madness end and sanity begin or vice versa  

Introduction

Humanity demands the following  PEACE, SHELTER, FOOD, EDUCATION and FREEDOM. But did our ancestors have the same yearning for things like education and freedom as we do in our present stage of evolution.

More importantly has the brain evolved to be an organ of reason or is it an emotional and instinctive mass, finding reasons for its reflex or instinctive actions.

Recently , scientific researchers have announced that they have completed a draft of the master blueprint of a human being. The massive database of the tens of thousands of genes in the human body, collectively known as the genome, is the coding for life itself and there are claims and promises that this information will revolutionize medicine and improve our lives. However, the human genome project raises a host of ethical, medical and legal issues. Many of this issues are linked to our own perceptions of life itself and this perception is in turn linked to the brain structure, its development and the human  mind.

1.      Evolution of the brain (Homo-Sapiens) and the Neanderthal

"The spirit lies dormant in the brute, and he knows no law but that of physical might. True paurusha, true bravery, consists in driving out the brute in us" Gandhi.

Our race (species) calling itself quite modestly Homo Sapiens (Intelligent or thinking man) is supposed to have evolved from ape-like ancestors. It was believed that these included the Neanderthal man but recent research suggests that they were an independent species, more strongly built also intelligent like us. What seems to be emerging is that maybe our ancestors may have even played a part in their demise. This apparently was linked to our superior intelligence although other theories suggest other more extreme behaviours and darker sides of our nature were to blame.

Researchers suggest that they believe they have identified the parts of the human genome involved in developing a person's intelligence. They do so by comparing the genes of  the DNA of 200 of the brightest kids in America to those of the genetic material from ordinary children.  This means scientists could soon test the potential intelligence of new-born babies in theory but thankfully nature is not so simple. Such simple arguments do not take into account a lot of the environmental and social factors. There is still s lot of debate about this in the scientific community, known as the nature/nurture debate. 

In this era of modern neuroscience and genetics a great deal of useful knowledge actually comes from archeology, behavioral and social science, philosophy, art and history. Even though neuroscience shows the brain 'Hardwiring' or circuits that control various aspects of body behaviour and genetic studies show that complexes of genes, often across chromosomes, that drive some of our heredity-based actions. The authors examine the genetic basis of behavioral traits such as aggression, sexuality, mental function, and alcoholism. They reject the idea that genes and environment are in opposition, arguing that heredity shapes how we interpret our surroundings, which in turn changes the very structure of our brain.  

Fig. 1 Embryonic Development in Different Species: Note how similar all the embryos are.

2.      Is the brain different in different races

 No ! We all have the same model with the same number of neurons (electrically active cells), about 10 thousand million in number. The way in which these large number of cells connect together to form the 'hardwiring' and the actual structure of the brain is in part dependent on the program in the paternal genetic material but a large part is also dependent on environmental factors (e.g. level of nutrition, oxygen) and there is also a large element of chance. During embryonic brain development there are more neurons than in the final adult brain and in fact about 50 % of neurons are eliminated depending it is thought on the strength and type of connections each has made. However, it is  possible that during brain development that some humans (irrespective of race) evolved subtle changes in the circuitry that made them more imaginative or creative and this process if too much probably gives rise to the behavioral disorders that seem abnormal compared to the society at large. These are  referred to as pervasive personality development disorders. These include a whole spectrum of disorders such as attention deficit disorders, autism, schizophrenia, endogenous depression, Tourretes and  many others. The important point to note is that these disorders are just an over- or under-expression of one or more normal circuits and activities of the brain. 

3.      Learning, Memory, Intelligence

 These properties have arisen with time as the number of neurons controlling the body became specialized to do other functions than just simple reflex actions. The property of learning and intelligence arose from circuits that allowed information to be stored (memory) and processed. This gave an evolutionary advantage to most of the life-forms that possessed these characteristics.  

 4.      Brain weakness - Faulty memory, Conditioning (how it is used in war and selling soap powders)

Excessive emotions (Envy, Greed, Revenge, Hate, Pain, Pleasure, Love)

Circuit for pleasure

Circuit for pain

Circuit for anger

I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.

Human Reasoning - How far has it evolved?

Unfortunately, human reasoning can also be subverted by propaganda and conditioning. One of the biggest conditioning factor is fear. Also repetition of the message and subliminal associations (food, sex and other primitive drives) can program the brain and radically affect the minds ability to reason. 

Recently, a sort of mass hysteria was created by the Nazis in order to justify an 'Aryan' race superiority message which led to persecution and death of millions unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of the propaganda. This does not mean that now such a propaganda process can not occur in the present day. It occurs everyday on TV, radio and newspapers and now even the internet. It is used for selling everything from soap powder to political or religious ideology. Following a recent terrorist outrage in America, the perpetrators were thought to belong to a certain race. Thus, in the Western media, anyone 'Arab-looking' (racial profiling) was deemed to be a terrorist and the Western public accordingly started abusing and murdering innocent people in the streets who fitted such a description (brown-skinned Asian looking). Many people not even the same race e.g Asian, Hispanic and mixed caste African-Europeans were attacked.  Reasoning was lost in propaganda, nobody questioned or even discussed the reasons underlying the primary terrorist act, in part due to the prior conditioning by Hollywood films and in part due to the continuous media repetition. Even normal 'reasonable' people were caught up in this process, since if you tried to analyze the terrorist crime than you were at the very least a sympathizer or at worst a supporter and therefore most probably a terrorists ! Such a reasoning has unfortunately prevailed in the modern human society worldwide. This was the same in the middle ages the Christian townsfolk would judge a potential witch by submerging the person in water, if he or she drowned than they must have been innocent if not than they were obviously guilty of witchcraft and therefore burnt at the stake. 

We must remember that just over 50 years ago similar loss of reasoning led to the construction of gas chambers and persecution and murder of Jews, gypsies, Asians, Poles and Russians. This could not be justified than or now, since ' terrorists' according to my knowledge come in all shapes, sizes, colours and ideologies, and the definition of terror is in itself not just a political or criminal process but to large extent the minds process that somehow cannot come to terms with fear from the unknown and dangerous. There a reluctance to discuss the possible human motives for criminal acts, for example what drives humans to commit murder or commit terrorist acts, is this type of activity just related to religion or ideology, brainwashing, frustration, desperation, coercion etc. This process in the brain which controls the motivational behaviour of the individual is usually related to the primitive animal drives e.g. need for food, reproduction and safety.  When this process is affected, by actual errors in the programming or circuitry of the brain, irrational behavior and psychological problems are the result. This process is the same in all humans and animals. 

Human society has evolved to live in large communities and is moving towards a global community, and it is therefore faced with an increasing problem of guarding against individuals losing control (going crazy) and killing whole families, fellow workers, students or even strangers. The human brain is to blame in these situations but more study is needed of this phenomenon but one thing is common in these case, the perpetrators live in social conditions that they perceive puts them individually in extremely stressful or unnatural conditions that somehow predisposes to such irrational behavior. 

The process of learning from worms to humans is the same

Some remarkable research on how genes influence learning and behaviour actually comes from the simplest organisms  like paramecium,  worms (C. elegans), fruit lies (drosophila),  rats, pigeons and other animals and this knowledge is applicable to us since underlying processes in our brain are the same. A number of mutations have been detected in genes controlling behavior in C. elegans, and the characterization of these genes has advanced our understanding of the genetics of behavior. Mutations affecting the ability of any of the sensory neurons to function properly could certainly impair the ability of the worms to sense their environment; mutations compromising motor neurons also affect the ability of the worms to respond to events in their environment. But understanding how genes function even at this very basic level can tell us a good deal about how the nervous system functions. For example, we know a great deal about the genetic basis of chemoreception in C. elegans, which is analogous to taste and smell in humans. The eleven pairs of chemosensory neurons in worms contain hundreds of different chemical receptors. Some chemicals attract worms, and some chemicals repel them, maybe this explains the use of perfumes in human society.

5.      Will we evolve to a higher consciousness or does this come from self reflection (Buddha, Gandhi etc)

    I am conscious of my own limitations. That consciousness is my only strength. Whatever I might have been able to do in my life has proceeded more than anything else out of the realization of my own limitations (Gandhi).

6.      Where does madness end and sanity begin or vice versa

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."
--Buddha

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough in me to confess my errors and to retrace my steps. I own that I have an immovable faith in God and His goodness and unconsumable passion for truth and love. But, is that not what every person has latent in him?

Other Quote from Ghandi

I am too conscious of the imperfections of the species to which I belong to be irritated against any member thereof. My remedy is to deal with the wrong wherever I see it, not to hurt the wrong-doer, even as I would not like to be hurt for the wrongs I continually do.

If we could erase the 'I's' and 'Mine's from religion, politics, economics, etc., we shall soon be free and bring heaven upon earth.

Links 

Medicine and creativity: Role of universal laws and life. 

 Altered states of consciousness

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