Worse than that. All the legacy animal biases, interpretations, and "feelings"
are all there in force. Then "on top" of that we have
fantasy models of what is and means to be reality that we consider
"reality". For instance : "look" at your computer, what "you"
envision is a brain produced fantasy vision that you call a "real"
computer. You are having insane delusions, you are insane.
Now consider that all do the same with all contexts, including
things, others, and self. All without any consideration that what we
envision is a brain artifact, not "reality".
Also, here is a repeat post :
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,410721,00.html
Why We Are All Insane
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
By Robin Nixon
Natural selection wants us to be crazy — at least a little bit. While true
debilitating insanity is not nature's intention, many mental health issues may
be byproducts of the over-functional human brain, some researchers claim.
As humans improved their gathering, hunting and cooking techniques, population
size increased and resources became more limited (in part because we hunted or
ate some species to extinction). As a result, not everyone could get enough to
eat. Cooperative relationships were critical to ensuring access to food, whether
through farming or more strategic hunting, and those with blunt social skills
were unlikely to survive, explained David C. Geary, author of "The Origin of
Mind" (APA, 2004), and a researcher at the University of Missouri.
And thus, a diversity of new mental abilities, and disabilities, unfurled.
The nature of joy
It might seem as though modern man should have evolved to be happy and
harmonious. But nature cares about genes, not joy, Geary said.
Mental illnesses hinder one in every four adults in America every year,
according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And this doesnÂ’t count
those of us with more moderate mood swings.
To explain our susceptibility to poor mental health, Randolph Nesse in "The
Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology" (Wiley, 2005) compares the human brain with
race horses: Just as horse breeding has selected for long thin legs that
increase speed but are prone to fracture, cognitive advances also increase
fitness — to a point.
Let's take common mental conditions one-by-one.
People with aggressive and narcissistic personalities are the easiest to
understand evolutionarily; they look out for number one. But even if 16 million
men today can trace their genes to Genghis Khan (nature's definition of
uber-success can be measured by his prolific paternity), very few potential
despots achieve such heights. Perhaps to check selfish urges, in favor of more
probable means to biological success, social lubricants such as empathy, guilt
and mild anxiety arose.
For example, the first of our ancestors to empathize and read facial expressions
had a striking advantage. They could confirm their own social status and
convince others to share food and shelter. But too much emotional acuity — when
individuals overanalyze every grimace — can cause a motivational nervousness
about one's social value to morph into a relentless handicapping anxiety.
Pondering the future
Another cognitive innovation made it possible to compare potential futures.
While other animals focus on the present, only humans, said Geary, "sit and
worry about what will happen three years from now if I do that or this." Our
ability to think things over, and over, can be counterproductive and lead to
obsessive tendencies.
Certain types of depression, however, Geary continued, may be advantageous. The
lethargy and disrupted mental state can help us disengage from unattainable
goals — whether it is an unrequited love or an exalted social position.
Evolution likely favored individuals who pause and reassess ambitions, instead
of wasting energy being blindly optimistic.
Natural selection also likely held the door open for disorders such as attention
deficit. Quickly abandoning a low stimulus situation was more helpful for male
hunters than female gatherers, writes Nesse, which may explain why boys are five
times more likely than girls to be hyperactive.
Similarly, in its mildest form, bipolar disorder can increase productivity and
creativity. Bipolar individuals (and their relatives) also often have more sex
than average people, Geary noted.
Sex, and survival of one's kids, is the whole point — as far as nature is
concerned. Sometimes unpleasant mental states lead to greater reproductive
success, said Geary, "so these genes stay in the gene pool."
