OmegaMom

How do you define what makes a human being “human”?  What is it that separates us from the animals around us?  Intelligence?  There are some who think that dolphins are equally intelligent  Social structure?  Take a look at ants.  Humor?  Many animals display qualities of humor (lowbrow though it may be).

Recently, neurologists are finding more and more evidence that some of the things that we humans have cherished as differentiating us from the animal world are as hard-wired as, say, hunger.

Take moral structure.  Altruism. 

Religious thinkers and more generic philosophers have pondered the questions of human morality since we’ve been writing–and probably before that.  What makes a particular action, in a particular set of circumstances, be seen as “good”?  Why do people try to help others?  Is it the result of religious thinking?  Is it inherent in our social structures?

This article discusses some of these questions, and starts off with a bang.  Some National Institutes of Health neuroscientists were scanning the brains of volunteers who were asked to contemplate helping others, or giving them something.  Each time the volunteers did, a very specific area of the brain lit up.

Whoa.  You mean it’s not years’ worth of studying religion or philosophy that makes us want to do good?  That maybe, just maybe, it’s a built-in chemical and electrical response, evolved to preserve the species?

It’s an interesting question.  If you ask someone why they did something nice for someone else, they’re likely to give you reasons.  “I did it because he needed help.”  “I did it because Christ says to do so.”  “I did it because it’s good to offer help.”

In all those answers lies the inherent, underlying belief that the person decided to do it, consciously.

But what these scientists are finding is that, perhaps, it’s not so conscious as we have always thought.  Which can be a scary realization.  I’m not who I am, doing the things I do, because I choose to be–I’m who I am, doing the things I do, because of the way my brain is structured and the way the various chemicals in my body interact with each other.  Or, conversely, I choose to be this way, because my brain is behaving this way, anyway.

There are other neuroscientific findings that are equally as disturbing, such as the brain scans that demonstrate that someone’s “decision” to move a hand or arm is actually preceded by the neurochemical firings that cause the hand or arm to move.  The area of the brain that lights up with “conscious thought” lights up after that.

So…was my decision to, say, marry OmegaDad a carefully thought-out reaction to an emotional response?  Or was it programmed deep within my neurons?  Or was it a combination of both?  Did my original neuronal make-up, affected by genetics from day one, and by hormones within my mother’s body, and by the structuring of those neurons during my first few months, cause me to be “destined” to, say, decide to have scrambled eggs for dinner tonight?

I like to think we’re more than the sum of our parts.  That’s there’s just a bit more to every human being than simple x+y combinations of neurochemicals causing us to make our decisions the way we do.  But at the same time, it’s very obvious that introduction of non-naturally-occurring chemicals–such as alcohol, or percodan, or LSD–can cause us to alter our thinking and change our decisions.  Parents are very aware of the effects of sugars and small amounts of caffeine.  Some parents swear by the effects of specific diets on the behavior and personality of children with neurological disorders such as Asperger’s or autism or bipolar disorder.

What makes me different than you?  What is it about that neurochemical soup, that collection of firing neurons, that causes the genesis of consciousness–so that my particular neurochemical soup and firing neurons results in me sitting down at this computer to ponder all these questions?  Is it just a certain level of complexity that provides the spark to generate consciousness?

Is a puzzlement.

I read the science news these days and am constantly awed and amazed–and prompted to ponder these big questions–by the discoveries that are being made.