The Ancient Mind

These days it would of course be absurd to think of tribal peoples as being in any way at all less intelligent than humans in modern civilization, but this was in fact the assumption of probably most people until not long ago, including scientists in fact. The term tribal people conjures up bush and jungle people in the wilds of Africa and the Amazon while on the other hand the word 'Germanic' evokes a sophisticated culture marked by the achievements of such people as Beethoven and Oppenheimer. In fact however, not long ago when Rome was beginning to decline these same Germans were just as 'primitive' as the most primitive tribes today. What is noteworthy is how fast civilization spread throughout the region and how easily they adapted to it.

The human brain has not changed in size or structure for a very long time now, far longer since agriculture, the basis for civilization, was devised. Humans have always been extraordinarily adaptable animals. More importantly in my opinion however has been their ability to adopt new things to new purposes, to create new paradigms and metaphysical realities. From the point of view of a sudden visitor, the Amazon forest must seem a maze of incomprehensible and conflated information. To a tribal inhabitant however, the same forest is as readable to him as a supermarket would be to us.

I don't believe that civilization represents any sort of breakthrough in the intellect of man, although I'd concede that it was a path along evolution that the human mind embraced and exploited. But civilization has come at very heavy price, one that clearly tells us that we are not as clever as we think. For most of our civilized history, most humans have lived, to more or less a degree, as malnourished slaves. While these conditions continue as I write this, we also seem to be on the verge of either causing catastrophic damage to our environment, inciting a horrific nuclear war, or both. We may not even survive. Perhaps we should review our ancient minds.

This article was written by Dinah Jackson who enjoys writing about science, travel and Pokemon. To find the rarest Japanese Pokemon cards, check out the store that has every kind of Japanese Pokemon promos that you can imagine. Also an incredible selection of Pokemon stuffed toys, pokedolls, figures, binders, deck boxes, sleeves, and just about anything you can imagine. Delivered right to your front door from Japan.