The possibility of species wide brain damage - the glitch in our evolution and why so

[DiMiTri]

Hello! I just joined because I've been a lurker here for a long time, and I'd like to see what you all think of this..as i think it is extremely important

This book has had a huge impact on my life and i think the implications for this theory (and the evidence supporting it) are ginormous. I've done extensive self experimentation and research and it seems to be well supported, which is evident by the growing number of eminent scientists supporting such a young theory. This is basically an epigenetic idea of how the hormones and chemicals in food have affected our evolution. The book is Left In The Dark, by Tony Wright google the book name for his website with lots of info

I cant post links yet but there is a free online .pdf on scribd that you can find easily by googling. There is also a short but nice summary in an article on brainwaving ..so google that as well if you'd like a quick taste

Some things to keep in mind when reading the articles summary:

-keep an open mind, because it just might be blown hahah ^_^ (and apparently in more ways than one!)

-If there was even the most minute chance that our brains were not functioning at 100%, wouldn't the most logical thing to do would be to look into it? Tons of evidence suggests this. Our diet is now, according to Katherine Milton, 95% removed from what it used to be when we evolved in the jungles of Africa. This means we only get 5% of what we used to when our mysteriously large brains exploded in size ( we now know they've since stopped expanding so rapidly, and some evidence shows they've begun shrinking). Food is what builds our body and neural system; the most complex and delicate thing in the known universe. And as anyone whose gotten drunk, taken marijuana, or a psychedelic knows, the brain is extremely sensitive to even minute amounts of chemicals. Fruit is the most complex and biochemically rich food we’ve ever seen and its packed with chemicals. To paraphrase Tony's engineering analogy: if a car, which pales in comparison to the complexity of our brains, were to be built and fueled by only 5% of what it was designed to be built out of, would we really expect it to be functional at all? Even 50% functional? of course not

-There are hints of higher functioning. Like speed reading, photographic memory, high meditation states, 'savant' abilities, ectect. many of these have actually been triggered by damage to the left hemisphere. for example, there was news recently of a girl who suddenly became a stunningly creative painter after her left hemisphere was removed. There is many cases similar to this. The reason why it wouldn't emerge in everyone with a left hemispherectomy is obvious if you understand the importance of the fuel or build materials that i just talked about

-Countless religions and myths from ancient cultures tell tales of 'the fall of mankind' from a previous 'golden age', and employ tactics/techniques to regain connection with a more balanced and in touch way of being. This is a worldwide phenomenon.

-Our closest relatives, the primates, still get tons of fruit in their diet, each containing thousands of phytochemicals that boost pineal functions, neurotransmitter activity, the immune system, ect..a tomato alone has 10,000 of these.They also get roughly 3-4 thousand milligrams of vitamin C, a very important antioxidant. The daily recommendation in the U.S. these days is 53 milligrams..and we probably used to get at least 3-4 thousand mg while evolving

-A surplus of testosterone in the uterus has been linked with left hemispheric damage in autistic people (from what i understand). in some cases this leads to the left hemisphere becoming less able to suppress the right, leading to savant abilities. This surplus has also been linked to the ever declining age of puberty, which is where neural and endocrine development begins to slow. There is no evolutionary benefit from our thymus shrinking in response to the surplus of testosterone at puberty.

-Dr. Allen Snyders research that inhibiting the left hemisphere opens up suppressed right hemispheric functions leading to higher creativity, more awareness, better visual memory, and others.

-Just look around around with this idea in mind..pollution, deforestation, slavery, overpopulation, starvation while others buy yachts..look at this society where a state of anxiety and fear is the norm, where each country spends thousands of man hours and dollars designing and manufacturing countless devices made to kill other people. Where our genius is focused on creating these devices designed to slaughter our own species. Where people are completely oblivious to the bigger picture and how they are being spoon fed crap by the media (and fastfood) all day. I mean..we are in the bottom of a gravity well on this beautiful slime-covered magma rock soaring through space..thousands of miles an hour around a nuclear fireball (the sun) in the neighborhood of billions of other swarms of trillions of nuclear fireballs(galaxies!) and people act as if this is 'normal'!

Our culture is largely a reflection, or expression, of our collective psychology. And we all sense something is wrong with our society...Some people don't even have any idea of what is wrong with our system, but they sense it on visceral level.

Any thoughts?

[Captain Kremmen]

Do you lurk on every site?
http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/6...our-evolution/

[Stoniphi]

Good call, Captain.

Sorry Dimitri, most of that appears to be what we call "hooey". Why are you spamming it?

[Captain Kremmen]

Spamming I can accept.
Sammy the shoe spammer is a welcome old friend on here.
It's lying and deception that hurts.

[DiMiTri]

No lying involved. I'm not trying to sell anything! i've been a frequenter of both of these sites for a while, among many other forums, and thought it would be interesting to see what everyone thought

[kwhilborn]

So you are not Tony Wright trying to sell a book?

[origin]

Our diet is now, according to Katherine Milton, 95% removed from what it used to be when we evolved in the jungles of Africa.

Katy is a bit confused. Our large brains did not evolve until our ancestors lived on the savana NOT the jungles.

So according to this theory if we eat too much fruit we will evolve to a more simian state. Maybe gymnists should eat more fruit so they can emulate gibbons.

Or better yet we can file this book as No Need to Read, thanks for the warning!

[origin]

-Our closest relatives, the primates, still get tons of fruit in their diet, each containing thousands of phytochemicals that boost pineal functions, neurotransmitter activity, the immune system, ect..a tomato alone has 10,000 of these.They also get roughly 3-4 thousand milligrams of vitamin C, a very important antioxidant. The daily recommendation in the U.S. these days is 53 milligrams..and we probably used to get at least 3-4 thousand mg while evolving

Any thoughts?

One thought is; are you freaking nuts!?!

If someone read this tripe they might be confused enough to actually take that amount of vitamin C, bad idea! More than 2000 mg of vitamine C can result in an overdose condition. This will lead to nausea, diarrea, and other gastro-intestinal problems such as kidney stones. A tomato by the way has about 20 mg of vitamin C and isn't native to Africa anyway.

[spidergoat]

I think humans are getting better nutrition now than ever before in our history.

[aaqucnaona]

Any thoughts?

The only way we are going is up. I dont understand why people believe that we are the fallen remants of a once glorious age. No.
The ancient ages was a dark, hard, poor and difficult time in the history of our species. U had to struggle days on end to produce a small among of grains that might just turn out to survive if the rain is enough to supplement the retarded irrigation facilities; only to have it take from u by the local ruler "under the authority of God". U didn't know what caused diseases and sewage and waste disposal were one of the largest problems every city in the world faced, u would be lucky to survive past 35. Dispite the fact that we hear about plato and aristotle, most people were ignorant, foolish, malnutritioned, superstitious and very very unhappy indeed.
I must add that while stone age diets were very different from McD, we today have better, more abundant, cheaper and more nutritious food.

[cosmictraveler]

-If there was even the most minute chance that our brains were not functioning at 100%, wouldn't the most logical thing to do would be to look into it?

Just how can you tell when anyone isn't using 100% of their brains? If they aren't how could you figure out how much they were using?

[billvon]

I mean..we are in the bottom of a gravity well on this beautiful slime-covered magma rock soaring through space..thousands of miles an hour around a nuclear fireball (the sun) in the neighborhood of billions of other swarms of trillions of nuclear fireballs(galaxies!) and people act as if this is 'normal'!

It is.

Our culture is largely a reflection, or expression, of our collective psychology. And we all sense something is wrong with our society...Some people don't even have any idea of what is wrong with our system, but they sense it on visceral level.

"I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. . . .
The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

[kwhilborn]

I think everyone is missing the fact that this thread was started by spammer as Captain Kremmen caught right away and posted another spam link of his.

[Captain Kremmen]

No lying involved. I'm not trying to sell anything! i've been a frequenter of both of these sites for a while, among many other forums, and thought it would be interesting to see what everyone thought

and this site:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-po...-damage-the-g/

and this one:
https://mycotopia.net/forums/general...in-damage.html

Do you not understand the meaning of spam?
How many sites have you posted it to?

[spidergoat]

I think everyone is missing the fact that this thread was started by spammer as Captain Kremmen caught right away and posted another spam link of his.

Yeah, but who cares?

[C C]

(we now know they've since stopped expanding so rapidly, and some evidence shows they've begun shrinking).

Doubtless depending on how such a conclusion is arrived at, average brain size has supposedly decreased slightly over a span of many centuries. With one theory being that it's because memory has been farmed out to so many external storage venues since the invention of symbols and writing.

According to their specific roles in a tribe, there are accounts of some members of primitive cultures -- which lacked either good representational systems or time for recording knowledge outside the head -- who had demonstrated an ability to memorize astounding amounts of detailed information. Often framed in story-like narratives, songs, etc (various traditional mnemonic devices). Thus the hypothesized need for a slightly bigger brain in the "old days", despite any occasional hydrocephalus wonder who gets by with only a sheet of brain tissue (efficient organization strategies for neural connections may beat a brute excess of neurons "wired" poorly). Quite down the drain, though, if it could ever be demonstrated that the "extra" brain volume of ancient folk wasn't even utilized for memory.

[DiMiTri]

Let me clarify that i'm not tony, don't know tony, and am merely posting this on several sites to get a wide idea of what people think of it because frankly, after a lot of self experimentation i'm pretty convinced there is something going on here. I doubt the author of any self published book would put out free copies. I'm sorry i came off as a spammer, and i apologize. I'm just really passionate and i hope we can have a healthy and respectful discussion. Please read the article though of cntrl F search the book link before completely disregarding the theory outright because of one part of it that you don't understand, as many of these remarks are addressed in the book.

"Katy is a bit confused. Our large brains did not evolve until our ancestors lived on the savana NOT the jungles."

There are many holes in this theory which are addressed in the link to the book. There is actually a huge correlation between a large brain/body ratio and fruit. Look at fruit bats, and parrots, for example. Not to mention our closest relatives-the primates. Howler monkies and spider monkies are also an interesting case. They live in the same environment, are about the same size, and yet ones brain is over twice the size of the others. However the differences in their diet shows that one eats a LOT more fruit.

"The only way we are going is up. I dont understand why people believe that we are the fallen remants of a once glorious age. No.
The ancient ages was a dark, hard, poor and difficult time in the history of our species. U had to struggle days on end to produce a small among of grains that might just turn out to survive if the rain is enough to supplement the retarded irrigation facilities; only to have it take from u by the local ruler "under the authority of God". U didn't know what caused diseases and sewage and waste disposal were one of the largest problems every city in the world faced, u would be lucky to survive past 35. Dispite the fact that we hear about plato and aristotle, most people were ignorant, foolish, malnutritioned, superstitious and very very unhappy indeed.
I must add that while stone age diets were very different from McD, we today have better, more abundant, cheaper and more nutritious food. "

Your first remark is a matter of perspective. While we do show signs of genius, this genius has largely been put towards designing machines that kill people. If i recall correctly we have killed over 100million of our own in this century alone, not to mention that more and more species are going extinct because of our blind raping of the planets resources and environment which we do in complete disregard for other organisms and without a thought of how this will affect our future generations. i'm speaking generally here of course. There are exceptions. But largely we live in culture that is literally a loaded gun aimed at the head of this planet. There is evidence that many ancient cultures were far more advanced than we often give credit. Sure they had their problems like us, as they would be subject to this condition as well, but how often do we marvel at things like the pyramids and mathematics of ancient cultures and wonder how they came to knew such things? I mean how many ancient cultures knew the earth was round and had a deep understanding of astronomy, and yet in the middle ages we thought 'the earth was round'? i'm not citing this as proof or even very solid evidence..its just a few things to ponder. There is a lot of evidence many ancients enjoyed a more holistic state of mental and physical homeostasis with nature than we do today. Graham Hancock for instance has studied these ancient cultures extensively.

Your comment on agriculture and the stonage are not the era i am saying we probably evolved our huge brains in. Agriculture is a very recent thing actually, and yes there was poor diets back then as there are today. Its interesting though that you think todays diet is healthier. Sure for some it is lightyears healthier. But compared to mcdonalds, processed foods, and all of the steroids, hormones, and pesticides on our food, it appears our diet is FAR worse than it was even in the agricultural era. Which, again, is not what this theory is talking about. That era is thousands upon thousands of years from when we were in the jungle.
“
-If there was even the most minute chance that our brains were not functioning at 100%, wouldn't the most logical thing to do would be to look into it?
”
Just how can you tell when anyone isn't using 100% of their brains? If they aren't how could you figure out how much they were using?

I simply meant that if there was even the slightest chance that our brains had suffered from some sort of evolutionary glitch that has left us less functional than we were thousands of years ago beforehand, then wouldn't the most logical to do would be to at least look into it for a little bit? Sorry, i see how my quote could be interpreted along the lines of the old "we only use 10% of our brains" saying.

[DiMiTri]

"
If someone read this tripe they might be confused enough to actually take that amount of vitamin C, bad idea! More than 2000 mg of vitamine C can result in an overdose condition. This will lead to nausea, diarrea, and other gastro-intestinal problems such as kidney stones. A tomato by the way has about 20 mg of vitamin C and isn't native to Africa anyway."

The tomato reference was merely to give an idea of just how extremely complex fruit is. And vitamin C and vitamin D has been given to many people with diseases by doctors in megadoses way past the daily recommendations and they were fine (which are puny for vitamin D as well)

This also brings me to the claim that our brains expanded in size once we started consuming meat in the savannah. First of all cooking has been known to destroy and even convert many of the nutritional elements of food into something harmful. Cooking things is not seen anywhere else in nature and was developed after our brains got to be the size and complexity they are at. Digestive leukocytosis, for example, is where the immune system reacts to cooked or processed food in the gut as if it is a dangerous invader, and floods the system with white blood cells. This was thought to be normal until it was discovered that uncooked food like fruit does not prompt this response.

Back to the vitamin C and D thing..if we evolved on meat, which is rich in vitamin D, then why would we synthesize our own vitamin D from sunlight but not produce our own vitamin C? Its extremely rare for an animal to synthesize its own vitamin D, and if we were getting it from meat then we certainly wouldn't need this. Its also rare to see a species that doesn't synthesize its own vitamin C internally. Where this does occur though it is because they are getting tons of it from plants in the environment, and therefore have no reason to. If we evolved on grains and meats in the savannah then it would make more sense to synth our own vitamin C and not vitamin D

[origin]

Sorry Dimitri, but I don't want to feed the spammer. Peddle your wares elswhere.

[DiMiTri]

Well, i tried. Sorry if you can't see past my multiple threads to the fact that i'm just a very passionate person trying to have a civil discussion about a topic that has mountains of data to support it.