Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Kate Sheridan's picture

Evolution, why don't you love me more?

It's really bizarre for me to think of not only my body "betraying" me when I get older, but my mind as well. It makes me uncomfortable to think how fragile our existence really is. It doesn't take much to disrupt the system and become paralyzed or brain dead. If the spinal chord/nervous system is so delicate and essential to living, then don't you think it would have been evolutionarily beneficial to also "grant" it regenerative powers? Why is it that the most important aspect of our bodies is unable to heal itself? How did this system gain the evolutionary advantage? Is it a way of weeding out and sticking it to the reckless, brazen members of our species?

Also, although it's been said several times already in the forum, the idea that my thoughts, my emotions, my desires have a purely chemical basis from synapse to synapse is just wild. I don't think I'll ever get used to viewing my internal processes as something as clinical as that. I think that somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm still holding on to the possibility and belief that the most "human" parts of me come from something greater than my brain alone.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
2 + 11 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.