- George Holevas
- Oakland Gardens, NY
- United States
Student in Chemical Engineering, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Do you believe the human brain will continue to increase its capabilities?
According to neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran's TED talk, "The neurons that shaped civilization", a sudden emergence and rapid spread of a number of skills that are unique to human beings occurred 75k to 100k years ago. These defining skills include the use of tools, fire, shelter, language, and the ability to interpret a person's behavior.
He attributes the rapid development of these skills to a sudden emergence of a sophisticated mirror neuron system. Mirror nuerons are a relatively recent discovered set of neurons that fire when an animal either performs an action or observes that same action performed by another, essentially allowing us to emulate and imitate each other's actions.
Ramachandran speculates that this brain development was incredibly beneficial to the progression of mankind because it allowed an accidental discovery by one member of the group, such as use of fire or a particular kind of tool, to spread horizontally across the population and then transmit vertically down the generations. This temporarily made evolution Lamarckian instead of Darwinian, meaning that acquired traits over a lifetime could be passed down to offspring via emulation instead of relying on Darwinian evolution which could take hundreds of thousands of years.
The question I would like to pose is, might our brains (collectively as a species) soon experience such a new type of development once again? If so, what new skills could this more sophisticated neuron system facilitate our ability to perform, considering trends in globalization, collaboration etc (e.g. collaborative tasks across geographies, learning multiple languages more quickly etc )? Has the brain's full potential already been unleashed? Or will it perpetually continue to develop more complex neural permutations?
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Chris Kelly 20+
They could advance their field considerably if they realized that the exquisite brain is a processor, not a generator. The physical brain is no more able to generate thought than the physical heart generates emotions.
The human body is a filter and a processor for the bodies of consciousness which animate it.
Nor is the physical brain capable of "storage", as is erroneously promulgated by science. Claiming such things as "the brain stores memory" as 'fact' is precisely the type of thinking which halts growth.
Consciousness routed via intelligence is that which promotes evolution, thus, the greater our awareness of how our consciousness works, the further we evolve our selves, and consequently, our species.
Yes, the brain is capable of supporting this type of evolutionary growth, but it is not the brain that develops, nor is it the brain that holds 'potential', it is our consciousness. To wit, the brains potential is based solely on the growth of our conscious mind.
Part of the promise of the Age of Aquarius is the evolution of our collective consciousness, but make no mistake, brain activity is reliant upon the conscious bodies, not the other way around.
George Holevas
I'm not sure if I completely agree with you when you say the physical brain is no more able to generate thought than the physical heart generates emotions. In brain activity studies, certain neural networks in deferent parts of the brain were observed to be more active during a particular thought or emotional experience, suggesting that the brain does play a role in generating thought, or at least processing it.
Many people believe that the brain is the source of our consciousness because it is the least understood organ of our body. Every other organ can be identified as performing some mechanical function crucial to the proper function of our bodies. The brain has been said to contain more possible neural permutations than elementary particles in the universe so its complexity may never truly be understood. If our consciousness does not live in and originate from our brain, then where does it originate from?
Chris Kelly 20+
Processing, yes. Generating, no.
Remember, there are natural laws governing the universe, one of which is "like begets like" ... ie., cows give birth to calf's, not cubs; tulip seeds beget tulips, not daffodils; that which is physical is incapable of creating consciousness, anymore than a lamp creates electricity.
By 'consciousness' I mean the conscious bodies of energy which animates the physical being; that which is etheric; the astral bodies of subtle (as in refined, woven) energy which is aptly defined via the Chakra system.
***
"If our consciousness does not live in and originate from our brain, then where does it originate from?"
Our consciousness originates from the source of all life, the vast ocean of etheric energy. Our bodies of consciousness evolve through the earthly kingdoms and it is only through the human kingdom that we are able to mindfully and willfully evolve our own consciousness. This is the purpose of 'awakening'.
The brain does not create; the brain does not generate; the brain does not have thoughts or ideas or imagination ... all of these elements wrongly attributed to the brain are actually aspects of our conscious bodies which are processed through, not generated by, the brain.
The physical body is a tool through which our astral body evolves. Whether this evolution takes place mechanically or mindfully is up to us.