Lizard Brains

Some guy wrote a book that was reviewed on TV the last week or so. I wasn't paying all that much attention and have no idea what his name is (or, that of his book), but it was one of those "real" ones, non-fiction, and had something to do with economics or psychology or something.

I should probably read it.

Anyway, the point I got out of it is that humans make a lot of questionable choices. We think we're all rational and shit, but that part of us is constantly fighting against eons of evolution and our instinctive (and older) lizard brain. Before we could talk, we responded. His book (maybe) told of a test where subjects were given a choice between twenty dollars now or twenty-five next week, or something like that. While we realize we'll be getting more money if we wait, our lizard brain wants the money now, and many people took the instant gratfication. It may have even been the majority.

But that's not the point.

In today's wired world people aren't watching TV news or reading newspapers. Some (most?) see this as a good thing, as more power for the consumer, who can now pick and choose his or her news at his or her own time. I admit it's convenient, but most admit that there's a problem with it: we tend to pick that with which we already agree, reinforcing our beliefs. This, I think, may lead to insularity, if that's the right word. Mostly, we end up creating deeper gulfs between each other, side up in tribes, and seek continual reassurance that "we're right."

A lot of this news comes through the Internet and is delivered to Blackberries and cell phones, which, in a sense, make the problem worse. It used to be that students and people looked around when they had spare time, but now I see many of them talking on phones. Instead of taking the world as it is, they plug themselves into music they've pre-chosen, talk with those with whom bonds have already been formed, and shut out the world.

I think one of the greater reasons I am now who I am is because I was subjected to much that I didn't choose. In High School, few want to learn ("Where's the relevance?"), and I'd be much shallower if left to my own design. Most of the time I was right about not thinking a book or issue on the news, that the girl sitting next to me was boring, that I wouldn't care to eat that, but I've been pleasantly surprised many times, too. If I had control over what I learned, or who I got it from, I'd be more boring than I already am, and that would be sad.

It's our lizard brain, I'm convinced, that convinces us to spend our public moments plugged into that which we already know and are familiar with.