Simon. hello there,
This recent theme you have warmed to, makes a certain amount of sense to me; you can be the judge if my thinking is relevant or not: Recently I felt (literally) the importance of my core. Well, very often, when exercising the core, various parts of the body will “cheat”, and “take-up the slack” as a quick instinctive fix. Now of course the body wants to be efficient; it’s for our survival, just like birds will conserve energy or die. So, brains will find the quick fix in terms of efficiency, but this is not the long term fix (which in my case is “fix the core”!). As a tip, my physio reminded me “AVOID the path of least resistance!”. How many people compensate and cheat when trying to engage their core? We have to over-ride our instincts, and go for the long-term fix. It’s because in primitive times, efficiency was everything.
In that sense, yes, our brains have a primitive in-built efficiency, but it’s not the best long-term solution.
That solution relies on the other parts of the brain that we are endowed with. I do my research, I override my primitive instincts, and I aim for something higher, thanks to other parts of my brain, (still intact) that the good Lord granted me.
Neuroplasticity is the quick fix, and Neuro-intelligence is our ability to better ourselves. How else could you criticize plasticity if you didn’t have the power to communicate and network with others to better our knowledge, and one-up our individual knowledge? Everything comes down to communication in the end…from the cellular level, to the modern, educated man who wishes to better himself, and taps into the collective knowledge we spread.
Do let me know how much you agree / disagree ! Yes, instead of calling the brain lazy, I do partially agree, but I am more forgiving, and describe the brain / spine as behaving according to primitive instincts. It has served man well, up to now. Now we are in the era of bio-hacks, and tweaking the efficiency of our body. (At the same time we are deteriorating rapidly; infertility, 50-60 years of harvest left, depletion of minerals, pollution, sex-changing water supply… the list is never ending.)
Thank you for always engaging in great conversation, Simon. You never waffle on, and I always find your conversations rich with meaning.
Ciao, ciao, bravo! Roland