Quotes of Whoa #5: Evolution of Mind

"[I]f history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth. The human mind evolved to believe in the gods. It did not evolve to believe in biology. Acceptance of the supernatural conveyed a great advantage throughout prehistory, when the brain was evolving. Thus it is in sharp contrast to biology, which was developed as a product of the modern age and is not underwritten by genetic algorithms. The uncomfortable truth is that the two beliefs are not factually compatible. As a result those who hunger for both intellectual and religious truth will never acquire both in full measure."

-- Edward O. Wilson, 'Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge' (1998), p. 262.

Quotes of Whoa #4: Genetic Destiny?

"Once we realise that the basic wiring plan of the brain is under genetic influence, it's easy to see how not only animals but also people can have very similar brains and yet be so different, right from the start of their lives. Genetic forces, operating on the synaptic arrangement of the brain, constrain, at least to some extent, the way we act, think, and feel ... Still, it's important to recognise that genes only shape the broad outline of mental and behavioural functions, accounting for at most 50 percent of a given trait, and in many instances for far less. Inheritance may bias us in certain directions, but many other factors dictate how one's genes are expressed.

"For example, if a woman consumes excessive alcohol during pregnancy, or a child has a diet deficient in certain nutrients, a brain genetically destined for brilliance can instead turn out to be cognitively impaired. Likewise, a family history of extraversion can be squelched in an orphanage run with an iron fist, just as a natural tendency to be shy and withdrawn can be compensated for to some degree by the supportive encouragement of parents. Even if it becomes possible to clone a child who has died at a tender age, it's probable that the look-alike, having his own set of experiences, is going to act, think, and feel differently ... Genes are important, but not all-important."

-- Joseph LeDoux, 'Synaptic Self' (2002), p. 4-5.

Quotes of Whoa #3: The Synaptic Self

"My notion of personality is pretty simple: it's that your 'self,' the essence of who you are, reflects patterns of interconnectivity between neurons in your brain. Connections between neurons, known as synapses, are the main channels of information flow and storage in the brain. Most of what the brain does is accomplished by synaptic transmission between neurons, and by calling upon the information encoded by past transmission across synapses.

"Given the importance of synaptic transmission in brain function, it should be practically a truism to say that the self is synaptic. What else could it be? Not everyone, however, will be happy with this conclusion. Many will surely counter that the self is psychological, social, moral, aesthetic, or spiritual, rather than neural, in nature ... even a partial understanding of the synaptic basis of who we are is, for me, an acceptable goal. For seeking knowledge about the brain is not only a valid scientific pursuit; it can also improve the quality of life, as when it uncovers new ways of treating neurological or psychiatric disorders."

-- Joseph LeDoux, 'Synaptic Self' (2002), p. 2-3.

Quotes of Whoa #2

"Just how do genes affect individual behaviour? In the simplest terms, they do so by making proteins that shape the way neurons get wired together."

-- Joseph LeDoux, 'Synaptic Self' (2002), p. 4.

Quotes of Whoa #1

As part of the whoa-ness theme of this blog, a large amount of whoa can be found in science soundbites. I'm gonna start a series of these Quotes of Whoa and post them as and when I find them. Here's the first one, aptly from one of my favourite books, and quite a perfect example of what fascinates me about neuroscience:

"A piece of your brain the size of a grain of sand would contain one hundred thousand neurons, two million axons and one billion synapses, all 'talking to' each other. Given these figures, it's been calculated that the number of possible brain states - the number of permutations and combinations of activity that are theoretically possible - exceeds the number of elementary particles in the universe."

-- V.S. Ramachandran, Phantoms In The Brain (1998), p. 8.