3 the Human Brain

8/19/2019 3 the Human Brain

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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 con!ecture and imagination. This following

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

human behavior.

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"ummary of )indings

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

• 1. The direct reaction to a sensor signal. This earliest development of a neural system was a

simple 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. an has many of these reactive neural elements, from the blin!

of an eye "a physical movement#, to apprehension of the dar! "a decision coloration#.

• $. 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. %ave a cutout in the shape

of a haw! over the nest and the chic! will cringe. %ave a cutout corresponding to the

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parent&s outline and it will ma!e 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 Although superseded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. 'ear of height refers to the arboreal phase of man&s

ancestry. (laustrophobia "once an aid to survival# developed when confined in dar! caves

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

• *. The development of sensory memory and comparison. The fixed danger or need pattern

was largely replaced in the higher animals by sensor memory and comparison. )ememberedsensor experiences, all properly graded with descriptions of associated fear, hunger or lust,

are constantly compared with the sensor&s current view of the environment. +ighly

developed in man, it is more limited in the other higher species. This memory is not limitedto experiences within the environment. t is here that the animal may be trained. This entire

process is instinctive "programmed in neural circuitry#. %e refer to it as &intuition& and it is

highly successful in the day to day living experience. t is the most used thought process in

man by far, most humans rarely use any other process. %e learn to drive a car, prepare our

food, spea! 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. t is so refined in man that itappears to him to be intelligent. t is not.

• . The ability to imagine, to mentally construct sensor patterns, remember them, and then

use them as if they were real in the value summation neural circuits, provides a creativity

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

scenarios. f unsuccessful, they will as /uic!ly develop new ones.

• 0. (onscious 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 the

other higher animals. t grew from the ability to imagine, to create experiences in the sensormemories. 'irst, imagine a scene. ow, imagine that you are in charge, that you understand.That you need to do something with it. ow imagine the solution. The power this factor

added to the intuitive process is incredible. an, at least he thin!s so, now had the power to

stand bac! and loo! at himself and the cosmos. an now had the power to become

ob2ective. ot that he ever wanted to, mind you, but it was now possible.

• 3. Then, /uite recently, modern man discovered intelligent thought, a rigid methodology and

a mostly painful process. Totally unsung, it came from the artisans "not the philosophers#,

while see!ing repeatable methods to build dependable products. t re/uired the learning and

application of provable !nowledge and a re2ection of that which could not be proven. Theengineer was born, vilified by the intellectual from the beginning. The intelligent thought

process is not entertaining, li!e art, music, sports, literature and philosophy, and it isn&t easyor fun. t re/uires a measurable and provable basis, thereby utterly destroying a lot of beautiful and imaginative thought. t re/uires a careful single logical step at a time, a

seemingly terrible waste of a soaring and creative mind. t re/uires physical verification at

every logic step, a terribly boring and rote procedure. And it ta!es a terrible amount of!nowledge preparation. 4ut it produces real and measurable results. And if something is

really important, such as developing safe air flight, it is always used, indeed it is demanded.

The education of our children, long an intellectual toy, must someday 2oin the list of


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&important& things that deserve the same treatment. The uncontrolled application ofimagination and con!ecture 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. %e never really !now whichelement prevailed in our decision. f we are in our day-to-day mode, we operate entirely intuitively

"instinctively#. f we want to lean bac! and loo! at things, we are in our &awareness& "sub2ective#mode. t is only when we set our conscious minds to it, and rigidly adhere to the process, that we

are &intelligent&. 4eing &intelligent& is not an &easy& process, nor is it fun. t re/uires effort to learn and

rigid self-control to use. 4ut, it is productive.

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-onclusions

an is not, by nature "without special training#, a logical "reasoning, intelligent# creature. +e is,

instead, totally reactive "instinctive, intuitive#. +is behavior is determined entirely by the

interaction "conflict resolution, competition, cooperation, coordination# between his variousinstincts "genetically determined neural mechanisms provided by evolution for behavioral

guidance#. There is no mechanism for intelligence or memory which is separate from sensory,

motor and instinct mechanisms. an may be trained "his behavior may be controlled by edict#. +e

may be educated "he may be taught !nowledge for use as raw material in his decision ma!ing#. Theuntrained and uneducated human is totally instinctive and not capable of ob2ective reasoning or

proper cultural behavior under modern social environments. The self-disciplined and educated "ifeducated in real !nowledge# human is fully capable of both. The human has been provided by

evolution with instincts "genetically specified neural mechanisms# which causes him to see! both

training and education "he is a competitive social animal#. +e is /uite capable of logic, reason, and

intelligence when he chooses to be so, provided that he learns and follows the necessary disciplineand rigid methodology. 5ven then, however, he is instinctive in his goals "the need for and the

application of the reasoning#. +is instincts provide the direction, drive and power behind his every

action.

an 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 mental

creativity and exploration. +e has no mental limitation in scope, other than in his self-control over

his instincts. (onversely, 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, fre/uent verification by measurement, the refusal to consider intuition, imagination and

con2ecture in other than theoretical and inventive pursuits#.

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6nfortunately, man believes that he is naturally intelligent and that he acts intelligently at all times.

+e does not recogni7e that all of his social interaction is instinct "intuition# driven. or does he

recogni7e that many of his instincts are archaic and only partially applicable. or does he recogni7ethat 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 divergentanswers for the same behavioral /uestions. %here his genetically provided behavioral tendencies

"instincts# fit the particular social problem, he functions well, but since he is unable to sense thedividing line between his instinctive "intuition, reactive decision summation# and logical reasoning,

he usually substitutes intuition, imagination and con2ecture for logic, reason, and intelligence. Then

he swears to its authenticity by virtue of his &intelligence&. an!ind thus constructs entire fields ofstudy 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 2ust as unfortunate, human instincts date from times of great stress and so are primarily

aimed at surviving under that ancient environment. +aving overcome most of this environmentalstress through the invention of shelter, clothing, food production and medicine, many of these

instincts have become detrimental. thers are time-consuming and without social value.

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The *eural "ystem Before $an5arly life, some *.0 billion years ago, consisted of single living cells. A single cell is a very

complex assembly of biological material engaged in complex chemical processes. 8ingle cell life

developed, through the process of evolution, over a period of billions of years. 8ee The 5volutionof the (ell 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 man

re/uired, once the cell was established and began forming cooperatives, about 39 million years.The development of the cell itself re/uired about * billion prior years.

The first multicellular animals began appearing about 39 million years ago. These were living

creatures composed of cooperating cells. All of the higher animals, including man, developed fromthese. ote the process from the simple to the complex. ote the development, first of collectingindividual biological processes into a single cell, then the construction of creatures from multiple

uses of the cell. ne 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, wor!ing

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in harmony. The modern human nervous system is composed of about 1 billion neural

functioning cells, supported by perhaps 1 times that many more.

As man evolved, mutations occurred in the nervous system, causing it to evolve along with the

body. Those mutations were tested against the environment in the same manner as mutationsinvolving 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 re/uired more complex actions and reactions of the overall organism, those alsodeveloped in the form of neural circuitry along with and often a part of the sensory enhancement

circuitry. 8ee The 5volution of an for more detail on man&s development.

The first thing to reali7e about the brain is that, unli!e an organ such as the heart or liver, it is not a

single organ with a single function. t is instead an organ of many thousands of interloc!ingfunctions. These micro-functions developed along the same game plan as the body itself. f features

were 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, li!ewise, is constructed of many thousands of cooperating

functions. This is to be expected, since both were developed by the same process, and that

development would of necessity be of the same !ind 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. ther than in proportions of the various parts, the brains of

all of the higher animals are the same in construction.

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/xploration $ethods

The function of the brain was not understood as recently as two hundred years ago. any thoughtat that time it was some sort of pump which helped the heart circulate the blood. ur current

understanding of the brain is based on the following study methods:

• 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 and

named. This is the oldest direct study method.• bservation of the functioning brain: 6sing techni/ues such as agnetic )esonance

maging, the brain may be observed while the sub2ect performs various functions. This is

the most recent form of study. The active portion of the brain during any particular functionwill re/uire more blood and so shows up on the scan. %hile tal!ing, for example, the

4roca&s area on the left frontal lobe shows activity. %hile reading-aloud, the 4roca&s area

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"speech function# and the occipital lobe in both hemispheres "seeing function# will show

activity. %hile moving the right foot, a particular area in the parietal area of the left

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

• (ataloging the functional effects of brain trauma: 4rain damage from automobile accidents

and stro!es is /uite common. 4y 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 of

correlative "function vs location# data available.

• 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. 'or

example: The eyes developed slowly over time. The neural system which supports "1# eye

control and movement, "$# care "blin!ing#, "*# scene storage "memory# and recall, "# sceneanalysis, "0# imaginative scene construction, and "3# functional 2udgment of scene elements,

all developed along with the eye. The neural systems for all of the other senses developed in

the 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.• (omparative behavioral studies of modern man, primitive man, and other higher organisms

can supply supporting data and guidance, if carefully used only for that purpose and

maintained free of ideological and political tampering. (urrent studies are far more&politically correct& than &scientific&.

• ntrospection is the most /uestionable 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 : ;5bonics is a valid language;, ;%hole

language is superior to phonetics for the teaching of reading.;, ;t 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 youngmother.; 6nfortunately, such intuitive "for some# observations form the basis for all modern

education and, therefore, the social direction of man. %orse still, that education then formsthe culture of the next generation, leading inevitably to a spiral downward of ever

increasingly foolish &!nowledge& being taught to the ever increasingly receptive.

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%n Introduction to the Brain

The si7e of the modern human adult brain is about 1*0 cc. t is a spongy mass "and not very pleasing in appearance#. The brain of )amidus, the wal!ing ape larger than the +omo sapien



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sapien.

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

brain and the rest of the body. Two of the five senses which provide current environmentinformation from the outside world "eyes and ears# are connected directly to the periphery of the

brain. Taste, smell and touch come from outside the brain cage "the upper s!ull#. 5ach element ofeach sense has a direct connection to the brain. 5ach small area on the body has its own touchsensor. Taste provides about , 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 same

time. 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. t functions as if it

was a flattened surface. t 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 brain

cell bodies and their connections causes the cortex to be either white matter "connections# or gray

matter "active neural cells on the outer surface#. 8ee the latter part of an, the Digital achine 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 "bac!#, parietal

"top#, and frontal.

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% -ase of -ooperation

6sually 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 so

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bi7arre with respect to the way we appear to ourselves, that it becomes confusing. f one should be

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

The cause of this unusual situation is the manner in which the brain developed. t was not built at

one time, nor as a single ob2ect. t is not an entity that one can explain as an entity. eural decisionmechanisms in mobile complex organisms have been around more than 39 million years. The

human developed from one of those early creatures. 5arly neural mechanisms were /uite simple.

5volution, over time and with much trial and error experimentation, increased the number of neuralcomponents while constantly increasing the complexity of each. The end result, the human brain, is

a cooperative of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of &mini-brains&. The cooperative is so much in tune

that it appears and functions as one.

The human brain, then, is a cooperative composed of perhaps thousands of individual reactivedecision mechanisms, each with its own memory, interconnection with all others, and 2udgement.

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 to

our single consciousness, consider the partitioning of the brain into hemispheres.

'igure $:

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

hemispheres, the left and right, by a deep fissure. n general, the left half of the brain is associated

with things on the right side of the body and the right half is associated with things on the left sideof the body. This inversion idea also extends to sight, where the image processing area on the

surface of the occipital lobes is both inverted and reversed.

4etween these two halves and hidden from view, there is a massive communication lin!, the corpus

callosum, which connects the two, allowing information to pass between. 6nder normal conditions,anything !nown by one side is also !nown by the other, and as /uic!ly. ur self, then, is composed

of two thin!ing mechanisms, so totally interconnected that it appears to us to be one. ndeed, it

functions as one.


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(ertain forms of epilepsy do not respond to drug therapy and surgery becomes necessary. ne of

the 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

the rate and severity of sei7ures.

%hereas formerly each side of the brain was !ept informed of the happenings to the other by way

of the corpus callosum, they are now partially isolated. 4i7arre effects result. Things seen only withthe left eye "right hemisphere# become difficult, if not impossible, to verbali7e "the left hemisphere

contains the spea!ing vocabulary#. Things seen with only the right eye are not recogni7ed when

viewed again with only the left. t is now possible for one half of the brain to have experiences andlearn things that will never be !nown by the other.

Ad2ustments are made /uic!ly. The patient begins to tal! a lot. t is a way of overcoming the

communication difficulty introduced by the surgery. %hen the right eye sees anything, the left side

of the brain will verbali7e it "speech center is on left side of the brain#. The left ear pic!s up theverbal symbols "phonemes#, then the right side of the brain !nows how to verbali7e it also. A new

vocal and external communication lin! 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 thin! they are one

being, but external communication between the two is now necessary for cooperation.

4efore the corpus callosum was severed, the two sides of the brain functioned as an entity.

4ehavioral decisions were in perfect and immediate harmony, so harmonious in fact that the

division between the two is intellectually and consciously invisible.

?eep 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 are

continually ama7ed 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 human

neural system and its product. The awesome complexity and ex/uisite beauty of the human neuralsystem is staggering.

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extension of the same process.

• 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 !ind of structure.

• n examining brain trauma "stro!es and accidents#, mainly through autopsy after the

patient&s debilitation had been chronicled, the existence of speciali7ed portions of the braincan be demonstrated, and has been !nown for a long time.

• hysical measurement basis for these assumptions may be observed by various forms of

magnetic resonance imaging. 8ee agnetic maging Techni/ues.

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btaining Information %bout the /nvironment

'ig.

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. 5volution is

a reactive process, it does not plan ahead nor does it build in excess of re/uirements. )ather than

build 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 ad2ust the amount of the detail "data

compression# before entering the decision mechanism. t became necessary to preprocess this

sensor data into a more compact symbolic form. (onsider 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 TB camera# operating at about twenty frames per second.

%ith about 11 million sensor elements per eye and a color definition e/uivalent to at least 9 bits

per primary color, a data flow into the decision matrix e/uivalent to $, megabytes per secondwould be an overwhelming load to provide for using slow biological circuitry "would re/uire a $

mh7. entium for eye processing alone#. Add millions of other inputs from taste, hearing and touch

and the decision matrix would become monstrously large and also monstrously slow. nly a small

percentage of that information from the eye is needed for proper decision ma!ing, 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 is particularly customi7ed, through fixed processing, for the needs of the host. 'or 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 2udgment symbol with different accents tailored to

the needs of the cat. f necessity, this compression "scene analysis# must also ma!e allowances forurgency at the time, more detail being needed in times of danger, for example.

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8ensor 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 genetically

organi7ed and assigned circuitry, not useful for anything else and not replaceable through retrainingelsewhere if damaged. The preprocessing "data compression, symbol generation, data integration,

data analysis, sensor 2udgment# for the human eye ta!es place in the occipital lobe of eachhemisphere "see figure 1#. The occipital lobes are well developed in all mammals. Although

primary areas for various preprocessors are relatively fixed in location in the brain betweenindividuals, there is variation both in location and si7e. Also, the total area used for preprocessing

for certain senses are not locali7ed. n scanning the human brain for metabolic activity while

performing 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 not

happen at an aesthetically pleasing location, but once established was the li!ely 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 of the decision matrix. Turning the eyes toward a danger and concentrating mental attention there

would be an example.

The preliminary training for these preprocessor areas ta!es place during the early development of

the individual. 'or example, the focusing and movement of the eyes along with sight correlationusually ta!es at least a year. The coordination of the eye with body movement ta!es much longer.

Although this is training, it is mechanical training and has little to do with intellect. 'urther

physical training and ad2ustment occurs throughout life.

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1roviding )unction

'ig. 0

'igure 0 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 re/uired

to drive ever more complex devices and to coordinate those devices. f the complexity of the drivesignals was re/uired of the decision matrix, it would need be enormously wide, complex and slow.

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The human voice alone, for example, re/uires many thousands of simultaneous signals in the

formation of phonemes. A simple command to say, ;ah; is enormously complex with tongue and

mouth position, breath control, etc. 8imilarly, the movement and focusing of the eyes would re/uiremany thousands of instructions. These are provided by an eye controller mechanism rather than

directly from the decision matrix.

+ere 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 processoris an excellent example. t is located primarily in man on the lower portion of the left frontal lobe,

whereas in woman it is located in roughly e/ual parts on each side of the brain in the same location

on both frontal lobes. ther small patches of the brain show that they are also a part of this samemechanism. %hen the decision mechanism ma!es the decision to say, ;ah;, the phoneme processor

translates that phoneme demand into the multitude of muscular controls needed to accomplish that

tas!. This controller is trained as the child learns to tal!. The basic speech elements may be

obtained in less than two years. Bocabulary additions and pronunciation corrections may be made

throughout the life of the individual.

5ach motor device "leg, arm, finger, eye, tongue, etc.# has a trainable controller for the expansion

and translation of the command to that device, an area of gray matter set aside and specifically

designed for that function.

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

surface of the occipital lobe. f a sub2ect is given a map to study then as!ed to trace the route from a

given location on the map to another both with the eyes and from memory, it ta!es the sameamount of time either way. f a portion of the visual area in the occipital lobe is damaged, it can be

shown 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 sensory

perception mechanism. All of our memory scenes are stored in that same layer. t is an easy step,

then, to the generali7ation 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 sub2ect

not only loses the ability to see in the damaged portion, and is not able to recall any historical scenedetail in that same area but from before the damage, the sub2ect 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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+irection and +rive3 the -onflict of ife

A very large percentage of the brain, perhaps more than C>, is re/uired for body maintenance

"heart, respiration, etc.#, information gathering "sensors and data preprocessing#, memory, andmotor control "legs, arms, etc. post-processing and command translation#. These together describe

the physical abilities and limitations of the individual. The senses determine the amount and /uality

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

4ut man&s behavior goes much deeper. t is the balance of the brain which provides much of what

becomes behavior.

The simple organism shown in figure * 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.

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

provided the command signal re/uired to satisfy the error in that information. mplicit in the

sensor&s data was the command to do a specific thing about it. These are referred to as reflexactions, actions ta!en in direct and immediate response to a given sensor input. The blin! of the eye

to prevent in2ury to it when something moves toward it is an example. The 2er! of the hand away

from 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 which

needed to be made. As multiple re/uirements grew, the central decision matrix gained terms to beconsidered.

The first drives "instincts# developed in genetically specified form were the ones that concerned

body functions. Safety, food, sex, and care of young are some of the focal points, all under thegeneral heading survival . Decision conflict was the method which developed as the result of

evolution.

The decision conflict between safety and food was probably the first developed. 4efore 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 of

survival 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.

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



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eating, now this translation depends to a certain degree on a new factor. %e call that factor fear.

The emphasis is hunger, the conflict is fear. As long as the hunger is greater than the fear, the

animal forages. %hen 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. 6nder a comfortable environment, the fear is small and the appetites may be attended to.6nder 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 experiences

of the day. "nvestors on the stoc! mar!et play the same game today.# The modern attitude of

mental conflict avoidance, espoused by modern psychologists and philosophers, is a perversion.T' is a death mantra. an needs that inner conflict, it is the essence of his life. +is value, then,

lies in his uni/ue solution. %ithout conflict, what difference does a solution ma!eE %ho caresE

The forage


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bravery was born, the instinct which allows function in the face of danger.

nce these three trends "natural occurrences of behavior modifying instincts under the selection process# became established, all of the modern higher animals, including the human, became

probable. These three instincts become more adept with time, and many new instincts grew from

these. %here are these various instincts locatedE ost sensory and motor signal processors containthat portion of the instinct which effects them in the analysis of their re/uirements. t is believedthat the central portions of the instinct set reside in the frontal lobes.

(hance 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 reproduction could

provide. ost variations were worse and /uic!ly died out but some were improvements and these

tended to survive by crowding out the asexual animal. n the beginning, sex was for the purpose of

reproduction. 5arly animals had no notion of reproduction. 8exual drive was provided genetically"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 process favored astrong sexual lust, in most species. t became so strong in many species that it transcended food andeven danger. ncreased sexual drive tends to be intensified by the process of evolution, to a point. f

it becomes too strong, it creates problems which in turn may be so serious that the continuation of

the lineage is harmed. n that case, the evolutionary process will tend to eliminate those specieswith lusts which are too strong. Hust becomes another factor in the decision matrix.

f a species has so many offspring that sheer numbers provide the species continuation, then the

parent is /uite casual toward them. lants 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.)abbits are !nown for this approach. ale mammal sperm also follow the route that success

depends on large numbers. ther animals, such as the human, dolphin and elephant, bear only afew young which re/uire lengthy care to become adult and have their own offspring. Theseoffspring re/uire lengthy personal care, in turn re/uiring a great attachment between parent and

young. 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

raising their young and their lineage tends to prosper. Thus parental love became an instinctivedriving force in the decision matrix and now competes "conflicts# with all selfish instincts. 8ince

this instinct 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 tothe young of other species. Almost everyone loves a puppy.

%hat is the extent of the development of neural behavior mechanisms "how many instincts arethereE# in the brainE t is not that simple. Ta!e the one we call parental love for example. t, li!e all

instincts, invo!es an emotion when triggered. 6sually it is triggered by a sensory input: we see achild, we smell the characteristic odor of a baby, we feel the softness of their s!in, we hear it gurgle

in baby laughter. These sensory experiences are decoded in the various sensory control areas. There

is no central location for the instinct, it is distributed but inter-lin!ed. And the instinct itself is notdiscrete. %e categori7e instincts, as we do almost everything whether the process fits or not, as a

means of segmenting !nowledge for ease in communication and understanding. 8egmenting


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instincts in the human mind is an intellectual aid but does not reflect physical condition. The

instinct 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#. ts roots are in parental

love "care for the helpless child#. 8o where does one leave off and the other beginE nstinctive man

is a s!ull full of lumpy instinctive stew.

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/+#-%TI* %*+ T&%I*I* TH/ H#$%*

There is a physical change in gray matter with use. (ells in the outer thin area of the cortex whichare 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 ofe/ual si7e. 4oth groups were placed in identical containers and given identical food and water. ne

container was bare. The other contained many toys and innovative runs. After a period of time, half

of each group was sacrificed and their brains examined. There was a decided difference in theappearance of the brains. (ells in the &busy& group appeared much more robust. The containers were

then 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.t was found in each case that the appearance of the brains had shifted bac!. The brains from the

formerly sedentary mice had become more robust with the new stimulation and the formerly robust brains 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 4roca&s area is a neural mechanism which provides the function of motor processor for the

human voice mechanism. t receives a word in the form of a string of phonemes as input, then

provides the multitude of ex/uisitely timed and controlled commands to chest, tongue and throat

muscles to properly form the word. Applying the !nowledge gained from the mouse experiment,one would expect that there would be physical difference between the 4roca&s area of the average

person and that of an opera singer. 8uch is the case. There is a mar!ed difference.

5volution is inventive in the sense that it is chaos s/uee7ed through a filter. utations are accidentsand are, therefore, bereft of reason. The environment is what it is, and no more. t has no planning,

and, also, no reason. 4ut, when the mutations apply to the environment for survival, most are found

wanting, 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. +e idiotically runs through a bunch of impossibles beforefinding the invention he was loo!ing for.# nce evolution finds a solution, a mechanism which is

successful in surviving, it does not stri!e off loo!ing for a new way to do things. t always wor!s

from "happens to# that which already exists. f by chance it should find a better method, the



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creature incorporating the new and superior idea crowds out the old. t&s a competitive world. 8o

rest 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.

f the 4roca&s area responds to activity, in the same manner as the brains of the mice, then all otherneural mechanisms which perform the same !ind of function "a set of signals in, processed to a new

set of signals out# will respond in a li!e manner. bservation of other motor areas bear this theory

out.

f the 4roca&s area gets damaged, you are through tal!ing. o other brain area can be trained to ta!eits place. n the same manner, no matter the activity "education, practice or training#, the 4roca&s

area can&t be trained to do a different function.

An instinct is a neural mechanism. t is not a reasoning mechanism. t receives a set of signals and

produces another set of signals. t can be exercised. t can be strengthened. f made inactive through

inattention, it will atrophy to a low level influence. t can&t be trained into a new function. f 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 /uitetrainable#. 5ducation 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 conse/uent acceptable behavior#.

)acial 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. odern educatorswaste time trying to educate it into something else, an impossibility. The most they can do is ma!e

the child lie and feel inferior because he &thin!s wrong&. t is possible that the instinct is

strengthened every time the attempt is made to educate it. 'orget educating the instinct and train the

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

t is clear from this description, that man learns best "whether in !nowledge, motor s!ill or instinct

control# through repetition. n fact, practice "repetition# is the only way that it can &learn&. As! any bas!etball player, pianist or mathematician. The neural mechanisms in each instance, though

speciali7ed, operate on the same principle. nly the modern educator scoffs.

-onclusion3 ur current public education system is precisely

backwards in intent, content and method.

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

fixed constraints of nature. 8ome life forms, such as plants, adapt themselves to fit the re/uirements

of nature. thers adapt nature to fit themselves to a certain extent. The most successful of the latterhas been man. an has been developed to be the greatest problem solver yet produced by

evolution.

The construction of man&s neural system shows his nature specifically. t is composed of thousands


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

problems were outside of man, he con/uered them all, one by one. These problems lend themselves

to ob2ective attac!. A constant and reliable food supply became available through agriculture and

animal husbandry. 'ire for warmth and coo!ing was developed. 8helter was constructed fromavailable materials. edicine was developed. Tools that ma!e tas!s easier were invented.

an is a successful problem solver. +e has overpopulated the world and dominates all other life.

+e is successful to the point of negating the cleansing portion of his own evolution. 8ee TheDegeneration of an +e 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 e/uipped naturally to solve. an does well in ob2ective pursuits. +e can build a better rabbit

snare, and a roc!et to fly to the moon. 4ut, in spite of the fact that he believes he is brilliantlyintelligent in all things, he is dumb as a roc! when it comes to sub2ective problems. +e is not

e/uipped. Those problems did not exist when man evolved and evolution now supplies problems,not solutions. +is conflict summation matrix "intuition#, all thousands of elements, were designedfor an entirely different set of problems. an&s philosophy and psychology, as they are defined

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

8ince man&s nature is that of solving problems, and he has solved the ones provided by nature, those

for which he was designed to solve, it is natural that he tend to ta!e the easy way. )elax. ndulge infood and drin!. Het 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. an is born to be challenged. Ta!e conflict "competition# away from man andthose attributes which ma!e him human will atrophy.

As a superb problem solver of outside things which effect him, man removed the problems. That

removal may have been his death call. n turning his &intelligence& from the solving of ob2ective

problems, he has generated fatal sub2ective problems. +e has two solutions from which to choose,if he wishes to survive:

• 1. )eturn to the law of the 2ungle and recreate the life of the last two million years, with all

its death and misery. This means forsa!ing a rich standard of living, abandoning medicine,

re2ecting a compassionate culture and re/uiring a reduction in population to a small

percentage of that now. The natural forces of evolution would then cleanse his gene pooland !eep it lean. an, as a species, would survive indefinitely, or

• $. Develop and enforce rigid and ob2ective social thin!ing, translate man&s problems intoob2ective goals, then treat himself as his own worst enemy, always s!eptical of all that hedoes. This solution does not mean forsa!ing a rich standard of living or a compassionate

society.

$an4s social thought must be restructured. His cultural structure must be rebuilt. He needs

to scrap his non5science education system and enlarge his scientific studies, with all of its

rigor, to cover sub!ective man himself. /ducational psychology, for instance, should be an

http://www.onelife.com/evolve/degen.htmlhttp://www.onelife.com/evolve/degen.htmlhttp://www.onelife.com/evolve/degen.htmlhttp://www.onelife.com/evolve/degen.html


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

traditional teaching techni6ues to remain until enough is known. )orce the proving of new

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

culture.

.

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&/)/&/*-/"

The %hole 4rain Atlas - +arvard

Tel-Aviv 6niversity

%ashington 6niversity

5volution "4iosciences# This %%% Birtual Hibrary page offers lin!s to genetics and the theory of

evolution.

+uman 4ehavior and 5volution 8ociety Title age

endel%eb

4asic eural rocesses Tutorials and 4asic eural rocesses Tutorials Iohn ?rant7 at +anover (ollege has provided students with tutorials on neural functioning and the

action potential, an excellent introduction to information processing in the nervous system. +e has

even provided a /ui7: euron 8tructure Jui7.

A variety of methods, such as Kray, (AT, ), and 5T, for imaging the body and the brain arenow available. any of these can be explored through the %%%. A fabulous listing of relevant

sites is available at the (entre of edical maging )esearch, 6niversity of Heeds

any ther nteresting Hin!s

T1

http://www.onelife.com/evolve/brain.html#TOP%23TOPhttp://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.htmlhttp://www.tau.ac.il/~yosibahttp://weber.u.washington.edu/~wcalvinhttp://golgi.harvard.edu/biopages/evolution.htmlhttp://psych.lmu.edu/hbes.htmhttp://www.netspace.org/MendelWeb/http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neurotut.htmlhttp://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neural/diffuse1.htmlhttp://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neural/struct3.htmlhttp://agora.leeds.ac.uk/comir/resources/links.htmlhttp://neuro.med.cornell.edu/VL/http://www.onelife.com/evolve/brain.html#TOP%23TOPhttp://www.onelife.com/evolve/brain.html#TOP%23TOPhttp://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.htmlhttp://www.tau.ac.il/~yosibahttp://weber.u.washington.edu/~wcalvinhttp://golgi.harvard.edu/biopages/evolution.htmlhttp://psych.lmu.edu/hbes.htmhttp://www.netspace.org/MendelWeb/http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neurotut.htmlhttp://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neural/diffuse1.htmlhttp://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neural/struct3.htmlhttp://agora.leeds.ac.uk/comir/resources/links.htmlhttp://neuro.med.cornell.edu/VL/http://www.onelife.com/evolve/brain.html#TOP%23TOP


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