An Ecology of MInd (8 page)

He thought for a long time about his survival and healing. He didn't understand it, and in some ways was angry about it. If some god or spirit had saved
him, why had it not saved the others of his tribe as well? He had never even paid much attention to the teachings of the shaman of the tribe, being far
more interested in hunting and Sinjee.

He finally gave up thinking about it for now, and got up and walked about the ruined camp. He began looking for useful items in the wreckage that he would
need for survival. He managed to find weapons, some food, tools and hides, enough to be able to hunt and provide shelter and live on his own. There was
actually more than he could carry so he packed up what he thought would be the most useful or that could be used to make what he needed if he had to.

He looked around the camp, fixing the sight in his memory. The No Chins had a lot to pay for, and he would make them pay. He didn't care how long it took.
He then turned and moved off into the forest.

IT LOOKED LIKE MOST PEOPLE were back from the break so Dr. Pearson started the next portion of the lecture.

"Welcome back, it's always gratifying when you don't all make a run for it." Several of the class laughed and the last few settled into their seats.

"I'm going to ask you all to listen carefully to exactly what I say in the next section and to try to hear me out. Some beliefs or mental constructs are
much more emotionally charged than others. They seem to use strong emotions as a defense mechanism. Even discussing them can be like walking through a
minefield. I will be talking more about this defense mechanism used by the brain later in the day."

"What I want to talk about now as being another barrier to reality is prejudice and my first example is one that involves racism. I'm going to assume that
everyone in this room is aware of people that make general assumptions about individuals based on the color of their skin, their race or country of origin,
or their religion beliefs. The lumping of all individuals into a category because of one of these characteristics without knowing more about them can be a
barrier to reality."

"It should be noted that there are definite common characteristics to particular cultures, which are different from other cultures. These should not be
confused with assumptions of inferiority based on race. Cultural differences can be real and measurable."

"A few years ago, a researcher at a reputable university announced the result of a study he had conducted. This researcher, who was a tenured professor,
announced that his study showed that physical brain size varied between races. He claimed that the results of his study showed the brain size to be the
smallest for Blacks. He reported his study as showing brain size was largest for Asians. Caucasians according to the researcher had brain sizes in the
middle"

"The response was immediate and intense. The media vilified him, and community figures demanded he be fired from the university. Protesters picketed with
signs and burned him in effigy."

"Now, remember that I am not arguing with specific beliefs that you or anyone else may have. I am looking at the process by which you and others arrive at
those beliefs. I have no idea if the design of his experiment was flawed or the data falsified or corrupted in some way, or if he was just an out-and-out
racist, lying about the results for his own motives. I also don't know if he was correct or not. I never checked the data, and nobody else seemed to
either."

"Nobody that I saw in the media bothered to look at the study that was done and assess it. Was it a well-designed study? Was subject selection skewed in
some way, or was it a totally valid study? As far as I know, nobody that appeared in the media coverage related to this news ever asked or checked."

"There was an intense emotional response which labeled him a racist, but nobody checked the validity of the results. No checking of facts, only an
automatic assumption he is wrong and a racist. One thing I did find interesting was that if it was just lies from a racist, it seemed strange that he was
Caucasian and his results did not have his race as having the largest brain size."

"Many of you are now labeling me as being a racist based on my even raising the possibility that he may have been correct. Again, I stress; I am not
arguing for any particular belief, merely looking at the process. The process for most people in this example seems to have been an absolute denial without
assessing any further. This sounds at least a bit like our previously discussed process of the brain assigning a mental construct and then resisting any
other conflicting data."

"The main difference is that the resistance includes a strong emotional response. Raising the mere possibility that it should be questioned is resisted
violently. The researcher made comments that could be due to him being racist and the mental construct is assigned, and that is the end of it."

"This is the flip side of racism or prejudice. Sometimes it is referred to as a form of political correctness. It is two sides of the same coin. Either
way, it is assigning labels and making decisions that are not based on fact but on pre-held assumptions."

"Let me give another example that may help clarify my point that this is a barrier to reality. I give my apologies in advance to anybody from the South.
How many of you have ever seen or heard of a stereotype of the lazy Southern redneck? They are often portrayed in cartoons, comics, and movies, as having
scrawny necks, sallow skin, protruding bellies, being mentally slow and having a general laziness or shiftlessness. This is an example of a prejudicial
stereotype. It got its beginning during the period of the civil war and immediately after. Interestingly, the description of mentally slow and having a
general laziness or shiftlessness was often applied to Blacks as well, most of whom lived in the Southern states during that time period."

"It would be easy and understandable to assign these descriptions the mental constructs of prejudice and racism. However, you would be only partially
correct. If you applied those labels and refused to consider all the information you would miss the fact that it was true. There were thousands of
individuals in the South that had the characteristics I mentioned, including the mental slowness.

"Once the label of racism is applied to the description, you deny any truth to the observations and miss the fact that it was due to a medical condition
that was extremely prevalent in the Southern States at that time. Infection of the human population by a parasite called hookworm was endemic. Many
thousands of people in the South were infected.”

“The parasite inhabits the soil in large areas of the South. It normally enters the body from the soil through contact with bare skin, usually the feet.
This means it was much more prevalent in the poor as they were less likely to wear shoes all the time. It passes through the blood and eventually passes by
a roundabout route, to the intestines. Symptoms of those infected are that they are malnourished, tend to have a distended belly, lack energy, and suffer
from mental slowness. Denial of the description due to applying the negative label of racism, results in not realizing the existence of a true and
prevalent medical problem."

"John D. Rockefeller Senior, donated funds for a program which educated people in the South to the existence of the problem and provided treatment. A
simple inexpensive treatment killed and removed the parasites. Infection by the parasite still exists but in far fewer numbers than were infected at the
time. As an aside, the Rockefeller program was extended to other countries, and Rockefeller funding was also responsible for almost eradicating yellow
fever in the Southern United States as well."

"So what have we learned here? We have learned that racism, and stereotypes are just another mental construct. Once assigned the brain tends to stop
considering any further data. Refusing to consider information because you consider it racist does the same thing. There is resistance to changing the
label. We have also learned that stereotypes may have a factual basis. In the example I provided, the stereotype has persisted long after the reasons for
it have passed."

"I will be talking more about persistence of beliefs and actions later."

"We have also seen a way to circumvent this particular barrier to reality, at least, to some extent, is to question all beliefs from time to time if new
information becomes available and to look for logical inconsistencies."

"Now let's move on to religion. Religion is another mental construct for most people that is extremely emotionally charged. Again, I am not arguing in
favor of, or against religion but would like to look at some interesting aspects. First off, when I say "Religion" it triggers a match with a mental
construct in your brain. That construct can be very different between people. Speaking here at Harvard, for the majority of you, it will trigger thoughts
of Christianity, but you are assuming that. I never mentioned Christianity, until now. The construct will depend on your upbringing and background.
Depending on the mix in the class or where I was lecturing the majority could think Judaism, Muslim, Buddhism, Earth Spirits or some other religion. Your
construct could also be a negative impression of any or all of these as well."

"Even with a Christian mental construct there are still the sub classes or denominations, Episcopalian, Baptist, Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and so on.
That one word, "Religion" means so many different things depending on who you are speaking to. When you use the word you often have no idea what sort of
construct you will trigger in another person or how it will relate to what you mean by the word."

"Just as in our racism and stereotype examples, care should be taken to not merely assign the label, whether it is positive or negative and never question.
In order to come closer to an accurate assessment of reality, logic and reason should be applied. Some of you may argue that logic and reason do not apply
but rather faith is the major factor in religion. Others of you may argue that there is no logic or reason in religion, and it is just delusions and an
inability to face reality. I would argue that this is not true as many religious people do have an extensive and strong logic component to their beliefs.
When they do, they are much more comfortable discussing views that differ from their own. Regardless, let's look at the process and not the belief."

"Logic and emotions are handled in different physical areas of the brain. When a mental construct in the brain is attacked or challenged the defense can
use either logic or emotion. Usually, they are not so clearly demarcated, and the defense has both aspects to differing degrees. The logic defense is more
open to allowing changes to the construct. One of the problems, however, with most people's constructs is that they often put very little logical thought
into the building of the construct and so when the construct is challenged or attacked, the brain goes straight to the only defense left to it, emotion.
Since the brain sees this as an attack, one of the emotions triggered is often anger."

"This type of response it not limited to religious constructs. We just happen to be using religion as our example. See if this sounds familiar to anyone.
Think of a time when you took a position or a stand in an argument? It could have been an argument or debate about anything at all. Why the Red Sox are
better than the Yankees, who the best drummer in the world is. It doesn’t matter. During the case of whatever this argument was about; it became more and
more obvious as the argument progressed that you did not have a logical leg to stand on. But instead of backing down, you became angry and more entrenched
in the defense of the point of view you were arguing? I see a number of nods around the room, so I will assume at least some of you have experienced this."

"Now again, just to remind ourselves the name for the seminar is "Barriers to Reality." I'll leave any logical exploration of your religious beliefs to you
but would like to point out some interesting historical facts about religion that may be new to you and may alter your view of the world in a small way.
Mostly, I bring them up to keep Dr. Wales happy. I'm getting nasty looks from him in the corner about wanting more history in the seminar."

Dr. Wales was smiling benignly in the corner.

"When I say "The Inquisition" what construct pops up in your mind?" Michael looked at the class and pointed to a young lady in the fifth row on the left
side. "You miss? What comes to mind for you?"

"Torture and religious persecution."

"Okay, anyone else? Yes, you sir."

"Burnings at the stake."

"Nasty stuff. Anything else?"

"It was carried out by the Catholic Church."

"Okay, when was the Inquisition? Anyone?"

"I think it was in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds." answered one student.