“The human brain is probably the single most complicated machine in existence,” Jeff Elman told me when I recently talked to him. “We obviously need to be humble in face of it.” There is no question that Elman is correct. He clearly and eloquently outlined what we have learned in the past decades, and he argues that this advance in knowledge and understanding is important. I would agree, but with some hesitation. Decades ago there was not much appreciation that the brain changes much. Today there is such an appreciation. Jeff Elman is a professor of cognitive science as well as the dean of the social science division at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and he is the co-director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind there at UCSD. Elman and I certainly open up the debate, and for this reason the interview is fascinating. It comes highly recommended by WAM. Click here or on the audio icon above to listen to the editor of World Affairs Monthly interview Jeffrey L. Elman. The University of California, San Diego can be found on the net at www.ucsd.edu. The Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind can be found on the net at www.kibm.ucsd.edu.

I have my own hunches as to what the human brain is all about, and these hunches will of course have to be “tested” by the “science enterprise.” What do we know? In my opinion: not much, perhaps very little in fact, shockingly little. Will we ever learn what the human brain is all about? My guess is that yes, we will learn what this machine is all about, but when we get this knowledge – and I predict that it will be achieved in 30 years or so – we will still not be able to do any “reverse engineering” of it. What we will come to understand about the human brain is its potential power, and that this power is largely a function of the first 20 years or so of life. The brain and “nervous system” is the real power in the human animal, not the genes. The brain effectively controls the genes, in my opinion. The human brain wants to be bigger, much bigger, and for this reason we are born in a way very much “premature.” The brain can then grow very rapidly outside the womb of the mother, which it does indeed. The first two decades of human life, including of course fetal development, is the supreme power of the human animal and perhaps the supreme power in existence in the universe. Elman admits to me that this is now being appreciated by the scientific community. The focus is now increasingly on the early periods of rapid development – thank goodness.

I have long been interested in “brain science” and several years ago I came up with a few of my own ideas to explain the human brain and its development – as well as dysfunction. I see “creativity” as the core of the human brain in some respects, the core of its meaning and existence. I published these words several years ago in WAM:



Our language is also obviously important, for the human animal is uniquely endowed with powerful language. With our language comes “intelligence” but the problem is that we are still uniquely unqualified to assess “intelligence” and define it. I have attempted to do just that, and I call my theory “the trinity of the human brain” because I discovered soon after I conceived my theory that St. Augustine also had a similar vision of the human animal. I publish below an email to Jeff Elman in which I explain the shock I had when I realized Augustine had pretty much the same idea, though expressed in religious concepts and terms.



My theory of the trinity of the human brain and mind.



Our potential is there, waiting for us to realize. Just how vast and impressive is this potential? The computer, however powerful it is, will not be the force which understands the functions of the human brain. The human brain, once it is liberated from the barbarism of our present culture and “knowledge” and understanding, will figure out what it is all about and then will be able to enhance its powers and perhaps even reverse engineer itself. We will go to the core of its meaning, which I believe is energy and data storage, or memory. We will then see how this brain of ours communicates and indeed controls the genes to a large degree. We are a function of our genes, to be sure. But our brains shape our destiny and our intelligence, not our genes. Our brains make the power of the human animal, not our genes. This is my opinion.... continue