The Best Available Alternative, Thoughts on Evolution

Tweet

"Everything has now changed except for our way of thinking." Albert Einstein (Ornstein 254) While contemplating such extreme issues as war, famine, and disease, Charles Darwin noticed how, particularly in each of these events, humans had limited resources with which to survive. This limitation led to a basic competition for existence. What kind of characteristics did a person need in order to survive? The answer to this question led to the development of an evolutionary theory, which Darwin termed " survival of the fittest." In the animal kingdom, predators sought after prey that were slower or otherwise more vulnerable than the rest of the pack. Those in the pack that survived would pass on their quickness and agility to their offspring, with each generation ideally becoming better suited to their environment. As Darwin said in Descent of Man, "The test of biological success is reproduction, not survival."(Orn 71) Just as man or any other animal struggles to survive, so do the genes which make up its host. These genes also have ways to ensure their own survival, or as modern evolutionists word it, "A hen is an egg's way of making another egg." (Orn 72) Each gene and organ in everything living has its own place in evolution. For example, the brain has adapted to its environment in the human body. The development of the brain in turn alters the body's environment both internally and externally. The irony is that the brain creates an environment which ultimately threatens it.The "contemporary" human mind has created war, murder, rape, and child abuse. Why? Why does man, in the face of evolution, destroy his fellow man? The answer here lies in the relationship between body and mind and how each has responded to its environment. To think of the brain, given its structure and potential, as a mere accident of evolution seems impossible. However, evolution has been at work for thousands of millions of years. Plenty of time and chance has been available to the brain to reach its current state. With each generation, the brain has evolved, and thousands upon thousands of generations have passed. To put this into perspective, Christ is fewer than one hundred generations away from modern man. Our true origins go back much further in time. The human brain is remarkable in evolution because it has achieved the fastest transformation known. In relation to body size, our brain is far larger than any of our animal brothers. Structurally, it is virtually the same, with the exception of the cerebral cortex, which is more developed and complex. Changes in our surroundings had much to do with the dramatic growth and development of the brain. About five million years ago in eastern Africa, the forests began to thin. Lack of shade and higher temperatures forced the tree dwellers to find new homes, and so began human history. Approximately one million years later, our first bipedal ancestors emerged. Since the vegetation had become rather limited and seasonal, early man turned to other animals for sustenance. In order to hunt more efectively, man gradually began to rely only on his hind limbs for running. This enabled him to run faster and also freed his hands for the eventual use of weapons. In addition, man could now see both his prey and predator more easily. As a consequence of bipedalism, the pelvis thickened in order to better support the body. This had a great impact upon the evolution of the brain. A thicker pelvis in turn created a smaller birth canal. Infants were born smaller, as well as their brains at birth. A smaller brain meant a longer dependency, requiring years to develop millions of uncommitted brain cells. It is this phenomena which makes human potential possible. As our skeletal structure evolved, so did the circulatory system in order to bring more blood to the brain. It is primarily this change in the blood flow which initiated the sudden growth of the brain approximately one million years after bipedalism. The loss of vegetation not only forced early man to find other ways in which to feed, but also exposed him to dangerous heat. The act of standing alleviated some of this heat by exposing less surface area to direct sunlight and escaping some of the ground level heat. Early man dealt with this danger in other ways, such as losing much of his body hair. The brain was most susceptible to damage from the heat. To protect it, many sweat glands formed on the forehead. In fact, the forehead has three to four times as many sweat glands per unit of skin than anywhere else on the body. As another form of protection, the brain insulated itself with millions of "spare" cells, which could also be recruited to replace the functions of lost brain cells. Over time, these insulator cells were used to store more complex functions, such as planning and imagining. The adaptability of the brain is not lost, however. When an area controlling sight is damaged, it is compensated for with increased hearing, for example. Adaptation is the key to preservation of the brain and of man. It is defined as "choosing the best available alternative," which is not always the best possible choice. All living beings are the way they are because of their need to adapt. We change in order to better relate to our environment. In today's technological society, our environment advances at such a rapid rate that man is perpetually adapting. Sufficient time is not allowed in order to completely adjust, or even make corrections. While adaptation is the reason why man is not extinct, it is also the cause of great stress. Specialization is to be feared. Consider the saber-toothed tiger. Its greatest feature, the enormous canines which enabled it to hunt the wooly mammoth, became its cause of extinction when the last of the mammoths were dead. Its giant teeeth could not feed on anything smaller. As long as man does not limit his environment, his brain will continue to evolve, seeking the best available alternative. Reference: The Evolution of Consciousness:The Origins of the Way We Think by Robert Ornstein, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1991