I am thinking about the brain again.
Last time I was talking about how the brain was layered. How it can sometimes be represented by male and female attributes.
This time I’m thinking about it from a less symbolic perspective.
At it’s simplest representation, the brain is divided into 3:
Old brain/reptilian = Instinct (fight or flight)
Limbic system = Emotional centre,
Neo cortex/newest, grey matter = Conscious thought.
Obviously it is immensely more complicated than this and can be broken down into many parts, specific to functions that occur in the brain.
But I’m guessing most of you won’t want to sit through a list of that, so simplicity wins the day J
From what I’ve read recently, intelligence is typically measured by the percentage size of the neo cortex in comparison to the total brain matter (in humans 60:1, chimps 30:1).
This is what makes us think we are more intelligent than animals.
There is also the myth that we only use 10% of our brain, giving an illusion of untapped wealth of intelligence waiting to be discovered.
The truth is, we use all of our brain, just different parts at different times. A lot of our motor functions are undertaken by our cerebral cortex. Our ability to think quite often seems to be distracted by our need to move.
This got me thinking… what if the reason our cerebral cortex is so large, percentage wise, is due to the fact that we have so much motion to produce with our body?
When you think about how many motor functions we use for all the many movements our bodies make (that an average animal isn‘t capable of) I can’t help but ask, could this not account for a large part of our grey matter, instead of our ability to think?
I ask this question because people who are missing certain abilities tend to have other heightened abilities develop. My son was diagnosed with torticollis when he was 16 months old .The behavioural therapist who visited suggested that his mind would develop differently from other children, he would become more analytical and have a highly developed thought processes. This has been evident throughout his 7 years. I’m sure we can all think of people who physically are inept and yet mentally are stronger.
Anyway…
What is interesting is that there are many cases of people functioning normally with only half or no cerebellum. Where the cerebellum should be is replaced with cerebrospinal fluid. According to doctors, there is a process called neuroplasticity, where the brain rewires itself to cope with the loss of that section. When you look at a brain and see that it is largely an instrument created by electrical pulses, and find brains which are more liquid than matter, one has to ask, is what we know about brains actually correct?
Electrical pulses can be transmitted through fluid as easily if not more effectively than matter, so could a jellyfish be purely a brain?
The box jellyfish displays attributes of an animal with a brain; it has eyes, can navigate, has been recorded to have mating rituals and in a case in Australia, where coast guards put nets up to keep them out, the box jellyfish evolved itself to fit through the net.
Further more, does this not bring into question the way in which we assess the intelligence of animals?
We are told that animals do not have consciousness. Do not display emotion the way we do, do not empathise. Most of the time we are told that certain animals don’t have enough comprehension to achieve anything more than fight, flight and sex. When we observe animal behaviour that contradicts this point of view we are told that we are projecting our emotions on to the animal.
One significant scenario that has changed the way we view animal cognition is that of the orca whales at Seaworld.
Anyone who has watched the Black Fish documentary will have been unnerved and deeply moved by this story. In particular, there’s a scene where the workers describe when the male Orca finds a man in his pool. The whale kills the man by drowning him, removes his clothing and his genitals and then waits for staff to arrive to throw the man on his back and show off what he’s done. This whale had been imprisoned its whole life and had been used for entertainment and breeding…
Put that in a different context…
If you were to take the same scenario, but with a human victim, it would be described like this: a man was imprisoned from birth; tortured, humiliated and sexually violated. When watching the documentary you can’t help but link the manufactured man-killer whales to the psychological institutionalisation of serial killers from prisons. Authorities on the matter had to concede that orcas must have the cognitive capacity to act, feel and do so intuitively. This has meant study has been undertaken.
Now it is proven that whales have a larger capacity for emotions than humans do, along with other mental attributes. One possibility being collective thought.
Over the last few years, more truths about animals have come out and the list of animals that are considered to have greater potential for cognitive thought grows each year.
I think it’s about time humans started to conclude that there’s a chance that we are not as smart as we think we are. That there is more than just a possibility that animals are more than capable of having the same emotional feelings and thoughts that we do.
Now to really confuse things, there is new research that suggests plants can feel and hear.
The plant gathers the information which it accumulates during the day and acts accordingly to it. It can also hear!
Researchers have played audio of caterpillars munching leaves and the plant will start secreting defensive chemicals. There are many examples of plants being able to sense, react and feel.
So again, I ask are plants as a whole, a functioning brain?
People are surprised when researchers claim that plants, fish and animals have memory, but why is this when it is a known fact that cells have memory?
An individual cell has a short memory but a group of cells have collective memory. Mitochondrial DNA captures and passes down a memory of experience to each generation. This is the same as orca whales.
70% of my garden has been created from damaged and discarded plants. I take my kids for walks; they gather little bits of plant and plant them at home. Now believe it or not, some of these have been dead as dead can be. Yet the kids hope, and despite the condition of some of these plant scraps, they grow when I fail to grow others. Some of the best plants I have are grown this way. After watching some of these experiments, I have to admit I believe there’s definitely some sort of connection between how we feel and plants around us.
Essentially all life on earth is made up of the same thing and only the pattern of the substances makes us different. It would appear that even though we are different, on a microscopic level the building blocks we are made of react and function in the same way.
All cells, life-forms and minds are effected by external influences that are captured, recorded and passed down to future generations.
All cells, life-forms, and minds are capable of communication and interaction with each other, in ways that we have previously been unaware of.
Big thoughts, big thoughts..
Imagine if the pagan societies had not been destroyed or corrupted by the Roman brutes. What a wonderful understanding, nature loving, magical life we would have now…
One thing is for sure my belief that gardeners who love their plants, grow better plants, has been 100% strengthened.
As has my belief in a strong connection to our furry friends.
Be good to nature and it will be good for you 😉
Coincidentally, just after I wrote this India declared that they were no longer in support and banned the capture and confinement of the cetacean species for the use of entertainment . Calling them Non-human beings.
This is a step in the right direction. I’m sure the makers of Black fish would be proud!
Leave a Reply