Survival Smarts

A secondary question popped into my mind recently, as I was pondering a related primary question. I find this often happens to me: I find myself mulling over a primary question for which there seems to be no immediate or obvious answer. As I continue to contemplate that question, a secondary question often comes to mind. When I shift my attention to that second question—which is usually a more profound one—clarity sometimes comes.

The initial question that spoke to me recently was “What should I be doing right now?” At any given time, we face choices. We must choose what to do or how to respond to something, hundreds of times a day. Our response is most often an unconscious one, and we do quite well with most of those kinds of choices. They are also usually rather straightforward and don’t require a lot of attention on our part. 

There are other times, however, when it's not at all clear what we should do… when things get complex, and we find ourselves wrestling with the issue at the conscious level. This can be especially true, when we've had a question bother us for some time, and we've just not been able to come up with a good answer. Often it's because the primary question that appears before us is not really digging down to an essential level; it’s not getting at the real issue.

So, as I pondered my primary “What should I do?” question, a secondary one came to mind. I realized it was more fundamental: “What do I need to know?” I think this secondary question came to mind, because I feel that knowledge must often precede action; in order to do something right, I need to have the appropriate knowledge first. 

We need to have some basic kind of knowledge, in order to choose wisely; to thrive, or even to survive. If I have a reasonably accurate knowledge about something, then my response—my action—will be smarter. In contrast, I can't expect to do things well, if I'm confused or deluded. Thus that more fundamental question came to mind: “What do I need to know?” Maybe I was getting somewhere.

In fact, this more basic question is an appropriate one for any creature. Every critter wants to survive, to stay alive, and therefore needs some crucial knowledge about how to do so. For example, any animal “knows” it needs to avoid eating poisonous things. A bee “knows” how to locate pollen. A bird “knows” to avoid hawks. And those creatures who have acquired the necessary knowledge (by surviving) pass it on to their offspring. This is an excellent example of the process of evolution, as well as the origin of natural intelligence.

While most animals naturally respond to what they need to know and thus what they need to do, we humans have been granted a more advanced level of cognition. So, rather than respond inherently and immediately, we ruminate on the question. We imagine various alternatives and envisage the future. We try to factor many possibilities into our choices. We are driven by the fact that we not only want to survive—we want to thrive. This is a special quality we humans have. It has brought us to the dominant position we occupy today.

All this cognitive power of ours can lead to complications and problems, however. Some of us, when we wonder about what to do, decide to try to seek control. A major objective of our technologies has been to deliver that control—whether it be over Nature or each other. Technology has given us the power—we believe—to secure our welfare and safety. The danger is that, although we've gained some command over our existence through the use of technology, it often becomes a greater threat, which may come to control us. Technology has a way of getting out of hand. It’s not necessarily a smart way to survive.

Curtailed Cognition—Part 2

Let's return to humanity's dumbing down because of air pollution. What long-term consequences may result, if we do little to clean up our air? We already know that modern humans are dumber than our Cro-Magnon ancestors, who roamed Earth tens of thousands of years ago. Well, maybe not necessarily dumber, but their brains were at least 10% larger than ours. They probably needed to be smart in their environment, which had many more threats than ours. Today we don't need their smarts, because we've tamed our world. We no longer have to deal with the large predators they faced, or, for most of us, the threat of food shortages.

It's a fact that evolution kicks in when environmental circumstances change. Species adapt when their environment transforms. The brain is a very expensive organ to maintain. In humans, it sucks up some 30% of the energy we generate. If we can decrease the size of our brain and not suffer any consequences—say, because we live in a less risky world—then it makes sense for evolution to do so. All of humanity's domesticated animals—cattle, sheep, pigs—are dumber than their wild counterparts. Through breeding we've made them safe and tame...and less intelligent.

So an argument can be made that today we do not need the smarts we once did. In fact, you don't have to look far into modern culture for ample evidence that many people do not use all that much of their cognitive abilities anyway. So let the brain deteriorate a little; it doesn't require much intelligence to veg out on the couch in front of the TV, or compose 140-character Tweets.

There's yet another reason why we could let our cognition curtail a little, without suffering the consequences: our rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI). We already have computers that are far smarter than we are at certain narrowly-defined tasks, such as chess—let alone all the lightning-speed calculations they do. We soon may develop what's called artificial general intelligence (AGI), which will outsmart us in most every area. We can get dumber and dumber and live easier and easier, thanks to robots. It makes me wonder if we will one day willingly enter the Matrix, where we do nothing but live in our heads. Matrix living is the ultimate easy “life.”

Will your average person even care if his cognition is curtailed? Studies have shown that the actual amount of money that one makes is not nearly as important as how it compares to his neighbor's earnings. Keep his salary low and he won't complain, if his cohorts are making the same; but give his neighbor a raise and he'll howl loudly and long. So, if everyone is as dumb as everyone else, will it matter to anyone?

Nobody knows where this is going. We can't predict the future. What's more, we seem to be disinclined to do much about it, even if we can see the threat. It's so much easier to maintain the status quo... it's much less demanding.

A final question that speaks to me: Which is more important, to keep my brain from deteriorating any more, or fully use the cognitive power I've got? It is a shame to own a fine musical instrument, but never develop the skill to play it. Is it instead maybe better to own a mediocre instrument that I've learned to play well? It seems to me that many people already squander much of the cognitive capability they possess.

Skillful Stone Agers—Part 2

How can it be that, on the average, life was better for our Later Stone Age ancestors? Yes, there is a small proportion of people today who live sumptuously and possess a far greater knowledge base than any time in prehistory, but most people today (particularly the countless residents of underdeveloped countries) are in poor health, are dependent on others for their bare necessities, eat poor quality food (when they are fortunate to have much at all), suffer from numerous diseases, are trapped in poverty and oppressive circumstances, and face constant violence. Their lives are mostly out of their control.

Quite the opposite, our Later Stone Age forebears were far more in control of their lives. Although their knowledge about the nature of their wider world was very limited (no books or internet for them), they had an intimate understanding of their proximate surroundings. They needed to know every plant and critter around them, and thus they possessed a knowledge of their immediate environment that dwarfs that of modern humans. 

 

Most people today live by developing a very deep understanding of a tiny slice of their world, and then trade that knowledge and skill for money or goods—items for which we have no ability to make ourselves. We enjoy the products of countless skilled people, having no idea how it’s done. It causes a type of dependency that we readily accept as a bargain, but makes us vulnerable and dependent on a system that can be shaky. (To wit, the financial debacle of the last few years that has impoverished countless people.)

Later Stone Age citizens had a more nutritious and better balanced diet than today. Most poverty-stricken people in the modern world survive primarily on rice or other nutrient-poor food. Additionally, when our agricultural ancestors abandoned the nomadic lifestyle, they settled down and surrounded themselves with disease-transmitting animals, as well as their own putrefying garbage and excrement. Most of the deadly diseases that humans have suffered from over the ages have been contracted from domesticated animals.

Maybe one of the most surprising facts I listed above is that the brain of modern humans is somewhat smaller than that of our Stone Age ancestors. What? How can that be? Aren’t we smarter than they were? Scientists do not know exactly why, but they have certainly verified that the quantity of our cerebral matter is less, through forensic examination of skulls. 

 

Furthermore, our modern brains seem to be continuing to shrink! One possible reason for this is that our modern, easy-going lifestyle does not require as much cognitive ability as our Later Stone Age forebears needed. They had to be constantly on their toes in order to stay alive. We can be half asleep and get by just fine. Our intelligent machines are allowing us to become stupid.

So the next time you hear someone sneeringly referring to another person as having a caveman or Stone Age mentality, you might tell them the truth: that they should show respect for those ancient peoples who were damned smart and had a very good quality of life.

Skillful Stone Agers—Part 1

When people want to disparage another person’s intellect, they often compare them to an ignorant Stone Age inhabitant, or liken them to a Neanderthal. “Man, you’re as dumb as a Neanderthal!” Modern people tend to look upon our Stone Age cousins as simpletons living a life of danger, deprivation, even misery—when compared to our modern existence. Today we have so many conveniences and comforts that our ancestors lacked, and we’ve progressed so much farther, that we feel as if their lifestyle was simple-minded and of extremely low quality. Who would ever want to live like they were forced to? They were ignorant. How could I live without TV, my smart phone, or my emails?
 

The Stone Age or Paleolithic period may be defined as the span of time beginning about 2.6 million years ago and ending about 4,000 years ago—when the Bronze Age began. The predecessors to humans began using stone tools around that earlier date, and when we Homo sapiens entered the scene (some 200,000 years ago), we continued using stone, until we learned how to forge metal. The period I’m considering here is what’s called the Upper Paleolithic or Later Stone Age: the span from about 60,000 years ago to the beginning of the agriculture revolution, about 12,000 years ago. (A simple graph would work better here, than all these numbers. Sorry.)

At the beginning of this Later Stone Age period—that time about 60,000 years ago—we humans experienced a leap forward: we developed the ability to communicate in a complex manner. We acquired the full benefits of language; after which we entered a period of rapidly-improving cognitive abilities. Symbolic thought emerged and cultural creativity exploded. This was a time before we became an agricultural people (around 12,000 years ago) and well before we began to play with metals. We had not settled down yet, but wandered about, in search of food. Stone tools were our primary implements. Later Stone Age people were hunter-gatherers, living off the land, wandering seasonally from place to place.

We like to consider ourselves as far more advanced and smarter than these Later Stone Agers. So what was life really like for these ancient ancestors? How primitive were they? How dumb were they? Well, contrary to what we modern humans think, the quality of life for our Later Stone Age ancestors was better than today. Yes, that’s right; better. Let me repeat that: BETTER! 

 

That statement may seem outrageous to those of us who enjoy a lifestyle of owning conveniences and enjoying advantages that our deep ancestors could never have imagined. While that may be true for the privileged few among us, when we compare most people around the world today to the typical Later Stone Age person, we find that the latter was (1) healthier and less disease-prone, (2) taller, stronger and more robust, (3) in possession of a larger brain, (4) far more knowledgeable about her immediate environment, and (5) in possession of greater coping and survival skills. 

 

More on skillful Later Stone Agers next time…