To start off on the subject of brains I figured we should know what the reason for them is before we find out anything else about them. Or at least find out what Daniel Wolpert thinks the real reason for a brain is.
The whole TED talk is about the real reason for brains; this comes from the viewpoint of a neuroscientist who has to deal with many difficult questions about the brain all the time. Wolpert asks why do humans and other animals have brains? Other species do not have brains so why do we? If you want to know why we have them you need to think about why we evolved them. You may think the brain was evolved so you could think or perceive the world; but that is completely wrong. If you really thought about this question you would realize how obvious the answer is. Wolpert says there is one reason and one reason only that we have a brain and that is to produce adaptable and complex movements. If you think about it that actually makes since, if you could not move then you could not put into action anything you are thinking about. Movement is the only way of affecting the world around you other than sweating, but what does that really do? Nothing of importance, exactly. There is one animal that provides evidence that this thought is correct, a sea squirt. This animal skins around the ocean for the childhood portion of it's life then once it does not need to move around anymore it implants on a rock, where it will stay the rest of it's life. The first thing the sea squirt does once he implants on a rock is digest it's own brain and nervous system for food. Since the sea squirt is not going to be moving anymore, why would it need a brain?
When I first watched this talk I did not agree with what Wolpert was saying. It did not make sense to me that the only reason we have a brain is for movement. But he explained it so well that I understood it. It is just very hard to wrap my head around though. I feel like there is so much more to humans then just moving. But I thought about it and it is just so crazy that if we could not move then we would not be able to do anything. What if you could still think but you could not act upon it. Without the brain we could not talk, we could not go anywhere or do anything.
If my reflection does not make sense to you or you just want to understand more about the brain I would recommend watching this TED talk. Daniel Wolpert has a great way of explaining it.
The whole TED talk is about the real reason for brains; this comes from the viewpoint of a neuroscientist who has to deal with many difficult questions about the brain all the time. Wolpert asks why do humans and other animals have brains? Other species do not have brains so why do we? If you want to know why we have them you need to think about why we evolved them. You may think the brain was evolved so you could think or perceive the world; but that is completely wrong. If you really thought about this question you would realize how obvious the answer is. Wolpert says there is one reason and one reason only that we have a brain and that is to produce adaptable and complex movements. If you think about it that actually makes since, if you could not move then you could not put into action anything you are thinking about. Movement is the only way of affecting the world around you other than sweating, but what does that really do? Nothing of importance, exactly. There is one animal that provides evidence that this thought is correct, a sea squirt. This animal skins around the ocean for the childhood portion of it's life then once it does not need to move around anymore it implants on a rock, where it will stay the rest of it's life. The first thing the sea squirt does once he implants on a rock is digest it's own brain and nervous system for food. Since the sea squirt is not going to be moving anymore, why would it need a brain?
When I first watched this talk I did not agree with what Wolpert was saying. It did not make sense to me that the only reason we have a brain is for movement. But he explained it so well that I understood it. It is just very hard to wrap my head around though. I feel like there is so much more to humans then just moving. But I thought about it and it is just so crazy that if we could not move then we would not be able to do anything. What if you could still think but you could not act upon it. Without the brain we could not talk, we could not go anywhere or do anything.
If my reflection does not make sense to you or you just want to understand more about the brain I would recommend watching this TED talk. Daniel Wolpert has a great way of explaining it.