Anthropomorphising animals is so natural as to be instinctive, but rather than dismiss it as irrationality, as hard nose materialists do, the reason is that our mirroring nervous system can imitate and recognize the states of living things that are even remotely like ourselves. I myself don’t think this is accidental as so many people argue.
We operate in a deep seated domain that humanity has avoided becoming aware of by pure conceit as far as I can tell. Nature never reinvents the wheel. It uses everything that works every time it’s appropriate. The natural world isn’t multiple systems. It is one system.
We still use our lizard brain when necessary. Yes, but we don’t use them well because we have been conditioned to cut them out of our awareness.
There is another phenomenon that has a part to play in atavism, cooptation. Now we do not need our heritage to serve the same purpose it does for other species in ourselves. A lizards needs are rather different than our own. But alongside the process of adaptation, there is another process of cooptation, a repurposing of adaptions that originally served a different need, like feathers in birds. Their original purpose was heat regulation, but they became in time repurposed to allow flight. We can activate our lizard brains, or our wolf brains, or whatever you would choose, and nurture their evolution. Direct them much like we direct our companion species.
What purpose would they be for us? How does it help in human evolution? Strengthen us in the ways we are weak? Perhaps an expanded awareness of reality? Full utilization of our senses would allow us better understanding of the world around us in general. Improve the quality of observation and thus broaden the scope of both the hard and soft sciences.
They would allow a conscious participation in the world on a symbiogenetic level. The human mind is the animal mind, and atrophy of the primal aspects doesn’t offer any real survival value. We live in a living world. Our world itself behaves much as a single, very complex organism.
Hearing has been repurposed to detect oncoming traffic instead of something coming to eat us. Indeed, and both still tap into the instinctive fear of loud noises.
I wonder if sensitivity to electromagnetic waves could help us find free wi-fi? Insects do show sensitivity to the behaviours of our electronics. They are attracted to electrical fields.
Our ancestors used this understanding for survival in their rituals of the hunt. Indeed, and preservation of other species does still serve our best interests.
It would help us nurture our planet instead of exploit it. It may also give us a chance to make informed decisions as we advance into realms of guided evolution offered by genetic engineering.
What have we coopted as humans? Little yet. Instead, much has been allowed to atrophy. Pack awareness has given away to a form of aimless herd mentality. To progress, one must stand upon the shoulders of giants, rather than under their feet. But another atrophy has been the most basic elemental awareness.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~