I AM DARWIN'S BRAIN

 I AM DARWIN’S BRAIN

 

WHO AM I?

     I am Darwin’s brain. It was I who had phenomenal insights. Everyone said I was brilliant, a genius! That’s true. And, I should know, I am Sir Charles Darwin’s brain. Is it because I am so uniquely designed that I am so special? Well, partially. When I was a child, I played freely in nature. Then, up until age of 30, I had Sir Charles feed me a steady diet of Poetry, and Art and Music! Each week we painted, attended concerts and galleries! And read SHAKESPEARE! It was glorious. And jokes! Lots of jokes and laughter... ANYTHING to nourish me and get me thinking in all different ways. This prepared me for releasing my genius. This was way before neuron theory. But I nourished Sir Charles’ neurons so I was like the young Muhammad Ali of grey matter – lithe and quick and ready to get into the ring with Science!

 

WHY AM I HERE?

     Habit! Dammit, habit! Habits of thinking. Doing what you’re good at over and over is a habit! I hurt myself. Repetitive Thinking Injury (RTI). The professional demands were fierce. Sir Charles has only fed me facts and data, facts and data, FACTS AND DATA for MANY years! Forced me to grind out General Laws, and for General Laws you need LOTS of facts and data. I was forced to crunch the numbers, grind out the laws like a machine that grinds sausage. I believe that such a steady diet of habitual thinking has pumped up certain neural pathways while other parts of me have atrophied! Darwin’s Brain has atrophied because of a conceptual, perceptual habit of thinking – who would have thought?  I certainly didn’t, and I’m Darwin’s Brain!

 

WHAT DO I WANT?

     Joy! Freedom! To feel my toes in the grass like a kid again! Parts of me are GONE, I tell you! Simply gone. The other day I rummaged through some neurons and realized – Darwin’s Brain realizing, can you imagine – that my capacity to think, REALLY THINK, is now limited to only certain types of thoughts?! Love, my feeling life, I’ve misplaced it. And, has anyone seen Darwin’s morality? I hope it’s here someplace under facts and data! I once read Poetry each week, now it makes me nauseous – ESPECIALLY Shakespeare.  I’ve enfeebled myself through disuse. Look, if you gotta make sausage, mix things up! Don’t just make horsemeat sausage, make rabbit sausage! Use ONE horse to ONE rabbit – That’s 50 / 50, right? You’re not laughing. That’s a statistician’s joke. Geez, Darwin’s Brain has lost it.

 

 

© Copyright 2014, Jean W. Yeager

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