Deep Thought: Aware of Our Brains
Created | Updated Sep 6, 2020
Deep Thought: Aware of Our Brains
Linus: Aargh!
Lucy: What's the matter now?
Linus: I'm aware of my tongue!
Charles Schulz, Peanuts
I remember this comic from when I was a kid, because it struck me as odd that Linus would become 'aware of his tongue'. But I could understand how uncomfortable that would be.
You know what's wrong with the human race? They're aware of their brains. And they don't like it one little bit.
Look out the window. See that bird? That bird is not doing any of the things the Discovery Channel says it's doing. It's not engaged in a 'struggle for survival'. It's just looking for something to peck at, because it's feeling, er, peckish. It's not locked in a dynamic fight for dominance in order to spread its genes and 'win' evolution. It just knows that it's spring, and somehow that other bird is annoyingly close. Go away, you.
Terry Pratchett was right, you know: birds singing are really just shouting, 'This is my bush! Go get your own bush!'
Once – we assume, we think, we intuit, we feel – we were like that, too. Blissfully self-regardless. Heedlessly following our hardwired imperatives, and, frankly, having a really good time. We didn't know we were in the world, as my grandmother would have said, but we were enjoying ourselves most of the time. And even when we weren't – when we were hungry, or cold, or running away from a sabretoothed whatsit – it only lasted while it lasted. When it was over, we were happy again. We didn't obsess over it, or pass anti-sabretooth laws, or visit the local therapist. We just got on with it.
'Scientists' – which is a loose term meaning 'people who study things and write papers about them' – argue a lot about what consciousness is, where it comes from, when it showed up, etc. They write papers like the no-doubt riveting Human Consciousness: Where Is It From and What Is It for? They have lots of theories1. Other 'scientists' reply, 'Pish and tosh. We're right. And so on.
This only proves my point: humans are aware of their brains. They can 'feel the wheels turning'. And they don't like it. It makes them uncomfortable. They keep trying to explain it to themselves (and others, often at length, see footnote 1).
What do they use to examine their brains, pray tell? You may well ask. Why, their brains, of course. Which is why this is such slow going. We're all like Lieutenant Commander Data of the starship Enterprise, running self-diagnostics. Well, it sounded good when the scriptwriter came up with it.
Scriptwriters are often drunk or stoned when they come up with these things. Their brains may not be trustworthy. Keep this in mind.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Psalm 8:3-4 (Public Domain Version, as usual)
Aha, says Freewayriding: I knew you'd get to the Bible quote eventually. Yep. Why did somebody write that around 3000 years ago? He was aware of his brain. He was also aware of what was not his brain: the moon and stars, for instance. At least, he was pretty sure it wasn't, that psalmist. He would have agreed with Einstein, who was bugged by quantum theory. He said (Einstein, not the psalmist, keep up), 'Do you really believe that the moon isn’t there when nobody looks?', or words to that effect (probably in German).
Now, whether we're happy or unhappy about quantum theory, we can agree on one thing: Albert Einstein was definitely aware of his brain.
Because we're aware of our brains, we do really dumb things. We make up theories to excuse our bad behaviour, instead of changing it. That way we don't have to do anything we don't want to do, and we can be lazy. We concoct the most ridiculous explanations for phenomena we know nothing about, often with horrendous results. It's why we're awash in fake news these days: everybody's getting into the silly theory business.
Do you remember the guy in Douglas Adams' story? The one who was so proud of himself for explaining things? He went on to 'prove' that black was white, and white black, and got run over at a zebra crossing (that's a PED XING to us Yanks).
Don't be like that guy.
One of these days, I do believe, we'll get the hang of this brain business. In the meantime, it behooveth us2 to practice humility. Humility is just another word for 'I know I wouldn't like the Total Perspective Vortex, but I do take the point that I'm not the centre of the universe.'
And thus we solemnly inscribe ourselves: #homohumilis. Which is also the title of the book Robbie Stamp is meant to be writing. Get busy and write, Robbie!
