If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.
- Charles Darwin
We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
- Charles Darwin
Neural Landscapes
Just as with bonsai trees, or rock gardens, these Neural Landscapes are dedicated to meditation. Without histological observation, we would never imagine that the instinct-related gyri in the human brain are so confined, so tortured, while the cognition-related gyri are so spread out, so calm and peaceful... Sections of the various stages of brain evolution – the primitive, limbic and the neocortex - are presented here using the same scale, inviting us to question our behaviour and the origin of our actions.
While historically the vanitas make us think about death and the vanity of life, the Neural Landscapes make us think about life growing and evolving, about the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm, about the delicate equations which balances the ratios of intelligence and instinct, of visionary thinking and basic survival reflexes within our behaviour... The skull of the traditional vanitas gives way to gray matter, the container is replaced by the content. These are the vanities of life in its reversible flow.
Note. The primitive brain or the reptilian complex, 400 million years old, governs primitive behaviour, basic needs, the survival instinct. The paleo-mammalian complex or the limbic system, 65 million years old, governs instinctive behaviour, emotions, reactions to stress. The human brain itself, the neocortex, 3.6 million years old, governs logical reasoning, language, acts of anticipation.
I love fools' experiments. I am always making them.
- Charles Darwin
- Charles Darwin
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