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Version 1.3 August 2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (Previous
Version)
These are the questions we ask in the introduction (Section 0.1.6 – paragraph 13):
If there is nothing divine in us, how can we be conscious?
What is consciousness? How can we be self-aware? Why are people sometimes so
mean, so selfish, so stupid? Why are people sometimes so kind, generous, and
clever? How can we be so rational sometimes and so emotional other times? Why
do men and women think so differently? Why are we all a bit racist and all a
bit sexist? How come humans like music and singing? How did the apes learn to
speak?
We may refine these as we develop this Chapter.
This chapter covers the areas of science concerned with how
our brains developed and how they work now, such as evolutionary psychology, psychology,
sociology, neuroscience and cognitive science. We cover this in just enough
detail so that we can work out what to believe and why, so that we can decide
what to do, in our day to day life, and in the big decisions of life. Unfortunately
that means there is a lot to cover.
For now, we have indicated the questions and the main
topics we intend to address. We MAY look at how we know what we know under the
following INDICATIVE DRAFT topic headings.
Here we review briefly the development of nervous systems
and brains in animals, from primitive worms and insects, through fish, amphibians,
reptiles, birds and mammals, to primates and humans. Â We need to address several
key developments related to our current behaviour:
a) the
physical development of our senses, nervous system and brain structure and capacity;
b) how
our intellectual, emotional, moral and consciousness development was
integrated;
a. self-awareness
and consciousness,
b. the
intellectual development, of our ability to understand;
c. the
emotional changes in our bodily responses and the feelings generated in our
minds;
d. the moral
changes, as we became human and humans formed into large societies; and
c) the
development of our senses of mystery, awe, longing, connection, including
a. Mystical
experiences; and
b. Near death
experiences.
The following mooted topics will be
rationalised and structured as we develop the chapter contents.
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1. My Brain and Me:
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Parallel (associative) and Sequential (active) circular
reactions?
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2. Brains as Processes:
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How do collections of neurons implement mental processes?
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3. Techniques:
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How we know what we know about brains?
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4. World Views:
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All species see the world so differently.
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Is it reasonable to break down this area into
these topics at this level?
Click on feedback, or add a comment below, to
tell us if you agree or disagree, or suggest improvements.
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5. Lizard Brains:
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Attention and Emotions: sex, fear, etc.
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6. Mammalian Brains:
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Perception and Action.
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7. Mammalian Brains:
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Feelings and Thoughts
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8. Fast and Slow Systems
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Survival benefits of fast brains.
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9. Seeing Other Minds:
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Animals co-operate and compete.
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10. Group Cooperation:
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Altruism, self-interest and moral calculus.
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11. Group Competition:
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Primate aggression to ‘outsiders’.
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12. Early Communication:
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Use of other signals, smell, body, cries,
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13. Tools and Culture:
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Tool use and culture in other animals.
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14. Rituals and Songs:
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Dance and song as language precursors.
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15. Self-Awareness:
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How could non-humans be self-aware?
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16. Awareness of Death:
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Occurs in animals, seen in archaeology.
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17. Human Brains:
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Cerebral cortex and longer chains, etc.
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18. Brain Regions:
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Centres for language and self-control, etc.
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19. Language and Stories:
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Imperatives and Narratives.
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20. Concepts/Abstraction:
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Social constructs and illusion (maya).
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21. Reason:
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Induction and deduction.
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22. Primitive Physics:
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3D, steady time, colours, causal, agents etc
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23. Human Altruism:
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How do humans behave altruistically?
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24. Intelligence:
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Does it matter? What influences it?
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25. Emotional Growth:
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Effects of early years?
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26. Mental Development:
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Imitation, Concrete, Abstract phases
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27. Emotional Maturity:
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Beyond simple rules and fixed structures?
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28. Human Violence:
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Is violence intrinsic, or is it cultural?
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29. Racism:
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Our expanding circle of concern.
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30. Psycho/Sociopaths
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How do we treat unfeeling people?
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31. Gender Realities:
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Different benefits and costs in reproduction.
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32. Heterosexuality:
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Including reproductive strategies?
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33. Homosexuality:
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How natural is homosexuality?
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34. Gender Illusions:
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Real differences between men and women?
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35. Mental Errors:
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The many ways we deceive ourselves?
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36. Mental Illness:
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Can we honestly identify treat it?
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37. Social Norms
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How we construct and change our realities?
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38. Eccentrics and Others:
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How do we cope as outsiders in society?
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39. Mind Affecting Drugs:
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Do psychedelics and so on give us insights?
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40. Addictions:
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Are these genetic, environmental or moral?
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41. Mystical Experiences:
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How do we explain mystical experiences?
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42. Death Experiences:
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How we explain near death experiences?
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43. Connection and Hope:
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Do we have real objective needs for these?
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44. Mental Education:
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How we rise above the limitations we see?
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45. Enhancing our Brains:
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Can drugs or embedded chips, enhance us?
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46. Artificial Intelligence:
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Can computers ever think and be conscious?
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47. Extra-terrestrial Life:
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Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
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This is the current summary of our conclusions in this
area:
Science is developing explanations of
how humans evolved into emotional, thinking, conscious, tool making, singing,
talking hunter gatherers, with moral and spiritual feelings, an innate
calculus of right and wrong; how xenophobia, racism, sexuality and sexism
evolved, and how we can control our ‘primitive’ nature.
 more (later)                                                             Statement
13
The detailed sections explain how we
justify these conclusions.
Members can tell us (publicly) what they think of this page. How can we improve it? Enter your comments.
Anyone can tell us (privately) what they think directly by email: click on 'Feedback' below.
Be the first to add a comment on this page.
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Do you know of any great music that would go well with this
page?
Or any of the other pages?
IF
YOU DO, CLICK FEEDBACK.
It could be in any language, or have no words, or just be
instrumental. From pop, to classical, a cappella to orchestral!
Examples of the
music we seek:
● On
the Tenets page, accessed from the main menu, our current choice is a Song
Without Words from Mendelssohn (who died in 1847), Opus 14 Nbr 4, called Contentment. Check it out: the Tenets
conclude most
times, I have a measure of content.
● Chapter 2.3 covers the solar system
and Earth’s development. In there somewhere, surely we should be
hearing Gustav
Holst's The Planets, which premiered 100 years ago. There is a movement for
each of the planets.
Please tell as
much identifying information as you can: a link, and/or the name of the piece
and a person’s name may be enough, but if you know it please also send
the artist/performer, composer/lyricist, year written, year recorded, record
label, copyright owner, or similar details.
We have to worry
about copyright: acknowledge it, and not infringe on it. Music that is
out of copyright, or was never copyrighted (eg like real, ie very old, folk
music) is good. Some material is ‘open source’ allowing others
to use it for free. For newer restricted copyright music we may have to
seek permission to play it, but we can’t afford to pay for it. It
depends on the circumstances. In general, copyright in text, images and music lasts
for 70 years after the year of the creator's death, even if the creator does
not own copyright.
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