We are more Reptilian than Animal

[Encephalon]

[Protector]

We're more puppies and kitties then monkeys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nTCX2pjZ7A

[zanshin]

Oh, you are being a good mammal, if you were a reptile you could be having a nice long sleep with no late night feedings. Birds must have a limbic system they take care of their young for a long time too.

 

Now the list of subcortical behavior does sound like politics

 

Congratulations on your baby!

[Jetsun]

It is true that most of us live largely from the survival part of our brain a lot of the time, the ego is a survival based mechanism created so you can survive in your environment when growing up, but one of the main points of spiritual approaches is so you can move beyond that into a more stable secure way of being. For whatever reason this development doesn't seem to come naturally rather we have to work for it ourselves, in a way we have to help evolution. Brain scans of Buddhist monks show that their practice shrinks the parts of the brain associated with stress and enlarges those parts associated with compassion, so yeah most of us live from the reptile brain but we can move beyond that but only by our own efforts it's not just going to fall in our laps, unfortunately most people don't see this so the majority of people will spend their lives in survival mode rather than working to evolve beyond it.

[Birch]

I get wary (:-)) when i read accounts of "human nature" like this.

I'm not concerned with the "truth" of it but rather what are the consequences of this conceptualisation of humans?

 

When it comes to the "symbolic" thinking issue, i think people sometimes forget that the very words I'm using to describe all this stuff are themselves symbols.

In fact, one of the first things i think is a step towards growing a new brain is to refrain from labelling (i.e. using symbols to denote reality)

 

Cat-dragon out.

[Everything]

refrain from labelling (i.e. using symbols to denote reality)

I am very sad

 

I am happy

 

I'm certain!

 

I'm curious

 

I've commited great sin

 

I knew that would happen

 

It brings joy to my heart!

 

I'm such a douchebag

Edited October 27, 2011 by Everything

[Encephalon]

I get wary (:-)) when i read accounts of "human nature" like this.

I'm not concerned with the "truth" of it but rather what are the consequences of this conceptualisation of humans?

 

When it comes to the "symbolic" thinking issue, i think people sometimes forget that the very words I'm using to describe all this stuff are themselves symbols.

In fact, one of the first things i think is a step towards growing a new brain is to refrain from labelling (i.e. using symbols to denote reality)

 

Cat-dragon out.

 

I'm not sure I follow you. I find information like this to be invaluable in understanding the human predilection for delusion and self-deception, especially when used in the service of exalting ourselves. I also do not believe it impugns us in any way to point out our behavioral kinship with other creatures. This conclusion of neuroscience can only help us by making sure that we don't confuse our innate and hard-wired instincts for higher cognitive functions. Rationalizing brute force as ideological purity has a pretty nasty tract record, does it not?

[Birch]

I was suggesting we look at all and any descriptors of reality. - and yes especially when it comes to "our human nature". For the very reasons you suggest:-) All have consequences. Wasn't so long we considered other human beings as "lesser races" more akin to animals. This did not reconcile us with nature (as far as i can see from here). Also want to put forward that brain parts aren't acting in isolation. See the now debunked left-brain/right-brain idea.

Neuroscience is also, as far as i can read, a relatively "young" science compared with others and while it's making great strides, I disagree that one should hand over one's understanding of human behaviour to it without some forethought.

[gendao]

Snake venom - harmful or...possibly healthy??

Steve Ludwin is a youthful-looking 46-yo who has been injecting himself with snake venom for 20 years as an ongoing experiment!! And when he was 42, doctors tested his telomeres as "aged" 28..

 

He appears to have some shaky hands, though?

Edited February 23, 2013 by vortex

[RongzomFan]

Thats some crazy stuff

Edited February 23, 2013 by alwayson

[Fai0607]

Snake venom - harmful or...possibly healthy??

Steve Ludwin is a youthful-looking 46-yo who has been injecting himself with snake venom for 20 years as an ongoing experiment!! And when he was 42, doctors tested his telomeres as "aged" 28..

 

He appears to have some shaky hands, though?

I am all for medical research and experimental medicine administered and supervisied by a physician.

 

But this guy.... this guy is approaching it wrong.

[GrandmasterP]

I could hibernate through winters no problem.

Guess that's the reptilian side.