What Life Has Taught Me About Our Big Brains
Is our number one challenge—being human? Sometimes, I think that there’s nothing that threatens our future more than humans.
This thing of being human is amazing, but at other times, it’s embarrassing to be a member of the species with the big brain.
The older I get, the more embarrassing it becomes.
Maybe it’s because in my lifetime, I’ve been able to watch some of my peers use their big brains to build a knowledge base that makes my parent’s generation look like they were living in the Dark Ages. I was born in 1951 which was also around the time that the average lifespan was doubled. The technological progress we’ve made during my lifetime has been astounding, unprecedented actually.
Of course, with knowledge comes responsibility.
That’s not a welcome fact. All big brains don’t seem to produce responsible or even adequate responses to information at an equally impressive level. The big brain, instead, has this uncanny knack of brilliantly sabotaging human progress at every twist and turn in the path.
Wishful thinking, denial, greed, toxic personality disorders, fear, the need to conform, tribalism, even limited capabilities stand in the way of our equally impressive problem solving skills.
Consequently, for every step forward, it’s two steps back and the second step often lands us in a hole that our ancestors dug ages ago. In other words, we’re just as likely to regress than progress. We could even end up returning to the Dark Ages of our ancestors, losing our collective knowledge when we fall into that hole they dug centuries ago.
Thus, history repeats itself again.
Now I’m able to get a sneak peek into the minds and hearts of many strangers throughout the world due to the invention of the internet and social media. What becomes increasingly more apparent is that regardless of where we come from big brains operate in much the same way.
Brilliant on occasions but a very flawed design overall.
Knowledge can actually exacerbate the problem. A lot of people resent knowledge because with it comes increased responsibility. I can’t tell you how often I’ve read resentful responses on social media to an article sharing information that ultimately would protect us.
Updates and new findings in the scientific community that change former protocol are deemed to be nothing more than fear mongering by the devout haters of education.
Americans have long history of hatred for education and the educated. They clearly view knowledge like the god of the Bible did, as something that is ultimately bad for humans not good. After all, the only fruit in the garden that Adam and Eve were prohibited to eat was the fruit from the tree of knowledge. So, now we’re stuck with accountability, because well, we know better.
Ignorance really is bliss.
Not all of us feel that way, however. Some of us are curious about why things are the way they are so we dedicate our lives to research and discovery. Then, there’s those like me who view knowledge as a means to avoid unnecessary trouble. So, wearing a condom to protect one’s self from disease is seen as a means to stay alive not a conspiracy to ruin pleasurable sensations.
The well informed are better able to identify their options.
That gives us a chance to make better decisions. The uninformed often don’t even know that they have choices. They merely follow outdated traditions, repeating the same mistakes their parents made.
Unfortunately, the group that has little knowledge isn’t always interested in acquiring knowledge.
They’d just as soon take their chances especially if change is required. Hating change is the bedfellow of wishful thinking and denial. That little threesome can get up to a lot of nasty shenanigans when left unchecked. Unfortunately, their stupidity can effect me, even when I’m making well informed decisions.
That’s when things get really, really tricky. Isn’t it?
If someone’s ignorance ends up hurting them, well, it’s sad when you know it was avoidable, but you don’t waste too much time worrying about it. It was their choice, after all. But when the consequences of their ignorance spills over into the community, the nation, even the whole world, then being human with a big brain seems like a pointless attribute. So, we scramble to fix errors of judgment, the fallout of ignorance and stubbornness.
It’s exhausting and dangerous.
Often, while we are trying to fix things, the very people who created the problems in the first place fight us every step of the way. They’re so ignorant that they literally bite the hand that feeds them, vote against their own best interests, or refuse to wear a rubber.
Yet, as a species, we have so much potential.
We can either solve problems or create problems. Build things or destroy things. Progress or regress. Eat or starve. Design a better world or trash this one. People like to call it sin. They like to blame imaginary gods and devils. But it’s nothing more than the stupidity of the species with a flawed brain design. It’s who we are even though we didn’t ask to be this way.
We are our own biggest obstacle to survival.
We invent but then pollute. We grow things but decimate. We preserve but destroy. We look to the future but cling to the past. We build cities and bombs at the same time. We’re just as likely to throw toxic waste into our natural resources as we are to protect them. We appreciate things only after we’ve lost them.
We are the enemy.
Our biggest challenge is to manage our flawed brains. We are not civilized yet. We need to evolve, socially and intellectually. We need more education not less.
Yet, those in power often want to keep us ignorant. I wonder why?
Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
