We Have Big Brains...So What?
What specifically led to the development of our large brains?
Fire, which led to heating foods, which allowed access to a vast increase in calories, especially from vegetables. This increased caloric intake allowed for a large, energy-hungry brain to develop. Prior to fire, the food we ate did not contain sufficient carbohydrates, the brain’s preferred energy source, to support such a massive structure. Once the brain started growing, however, creatures with more active and advanced brains showed a clear advantage over those with smaller and less active brains - an advantage that continues to this day
With this newly fed larger brain, we began to increasingly rely on our “brains” over our “instincts” to make decisions. A divide started to occur between humans, and those that were “brain-driven” began to “dominate” or exert their dominance over those individuals who were “instinct” based. This ultimately played out in the battlefield, when “instinctual-driven” generals would sleep, and meditate, and listen to spiritual guides to help them with battlefield tactics. The “brain-driven” individuals, on the other hand, would focus on tactics, and strategy, and concrete evidence to guide their decisions. Since a battle is a highly detailed and technical endeavor, the “brain-driven” individuals naturally won out in the end, and the tides shifted towards valuing “brain-driven” individuals over “instinctual-driven” individuals. Eventually, the “brain-driven” individuals began dominating more often, and people like Genghis khan started procreating at an alarming rate. Today, much of the population is dominated by these “brain-driven” individuals with very little reliance on their “instincts” to guide them. This is dangerous, and a better approach lies in a balance between using the brain to drive detailed and technical endeavors, and the instincts guiding the large, big-picture endeavors, such as meaning of life, purpose in life, climate-change, direction of humanity, career path, etc.
Our intellectual minds, the ones that focus on calculations, analysis, and predictions about the future, rely largely on our learned experiences. This is the knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work, that we have learned in our lifetimes. These lessons, and habits, are stored in our minds, and are used to help us navigate situations that require precise measurements, subtle adjustments, and detailed predictions.
Our instinctual brains, on the other hand, are effectively the knowledge that we have from our DNA. This is the pool of knowledge that has been “learned” from the millions of years of evolution and stored in our genetic code. It is not learned throughout our life, but rather is able to be tapped into when we quiet our mind and listen to our instincts. This instinctual brain is best utilized for things like sports, arts, improvisation, sex, and anything where living in the moment and responding to minute sensory processes is essential.
It is clear that individuals who are simply instinct-driven will fail in the technical and detailed aspects of life, where prediction and evidence-based reasoning is required. Meanwhile, the individuals who are simply intellectually-driven will fail in the big picture and humanity-aspects of life. The best leader for humanity is one that possesses a near-perfect blending of both the analytic and instinctual part of himself. He needs a highly developed brain, but also must have a good connection with his DNA, or instinctual side.
It can be quite difficult for an individual to maintain this balance. It may become confusing and overwhelming, having both sides of one’s instinctual brain and analytical mind essentially running at full throttle. Yet, this may be the next step for our evolution as a species. For throwing away our instinctual knowledge would be tantamount to ignoring the lessons of our DNA. While focusing only on our mental processes would be reducing humanity into an algorithm that could be replaced by an artificially intelligent machine one day. It is only by combining our calculating mental intelligence with our instinctual DNA abilities that the human race will be able to maximize its full potential and achieve the very highest achievements possible.
