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Authors: Lorne L. Bentley
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processes continue to originate from there. We scientists fondly refer to it as the reptile brain. It first developed in fish around 500 million years ago; and, Fred, it still exists in our body today. Directly on top of the reptile brain is the cerebral cortex. That represents a major step in the progression of mammals.”
“What does that do?”
“It’s the seat of all of our emotional responses and our value judgments. It originated around 150 million years ago in small mammals.
Dodd continued, “Finally we have the neo cortex. That development is relatively recent; it goes back only about 2 to 3 million years ago. That component provides us with our vivid imagination as well as our learning ability. It’s what makes us human and superior to all the other mammals on this planet.”
Fred asked the logical extension to Dodd’s premise. “So when a new component of our brain develops, do the older elements normally become useless, sort of like tonsils or the appendix—phased out of functional existence?”
“Not at all, they remain both functional and interconnected with other parts of the brain as well. They provide constant feedback to each other. However, the more recent additions to the brain tend to become the controllers of the earlier brain functions.”
“Look,” said Fred. “I’m a religious man; I have a hard time believing in this evolution stuff. I hold to the intelligent design theory.”
“That’s your choice, Fred. However one can be religious and still embrace evolution. Remember, God may be static but world religions are not.”
”I don’t get you. Religion has been around for thousands of years.”
“Yes, that’s true, but not in the same form. Remember at one time we believed that the sun revolved around the earth and we thought that the earth was the center of the universe. Our firm religious beliefs drove our misguided scientific beliefs. Copernicus, a scientist, changed that false precept when he dared to suggest that we were not the center of the universe. At one time, anyone possessing any ESP capability would have been regarded as a witch and burned at the stake. Religion is in constant motion; it’s a paradigm. It changes slowly as science proves, even to the most inflexible zealots, that some beliefs are unfounded. Of course, we will always have the ignorant in our society; those that believe we never traveled to the moon or that a Christian president is a Muslim. In my mind, God gave us the ability to continue to develop in order for our species to survive. Many organisms devolved out of existence because they didn’t have the ability to adjust to a changing environment. Wouldn’t a loving God want us to continue to flourish as our environment is disrupted by global warming, bombarded by massive pollution, or assaulted in some other ways in which nature takes its revenge on man’s excesses?”
Fred was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, but he needed to know more so that he could counter Donna in some more balanced way.
“Okay, now tell me about what made Donna so special.”
Dodd wouldn’t give up on his hypothesis. “Fred, have you ever had the feeling that someone was looking at you and you turned around and sure enough they were?”
Fred had to admit that it happened to him often.
“Fred, that’s a form of ESP and it clearly provides a type of early defense for us. When someone is looking at us without our apparent knowledge, the brain sniffs it out as a mild defensive alert. It doesn’t mobilize us to take action to fight or flee, but it does let us know that something is happening that in fact could be a potential problem for us. Fred, I checked into all the scientific reports from a century ago; that unique ability didn’t exist back then. It’s a relatively recent phenomena and it has been developed as an additional evolutionary defensive mechanism for our species. Other ESP capabilities are
“What does that do?”
“It’s the seat of all of our emotional responses and our value judgments. It originated around 150 million years ago in small mammals.
Dodd continued, “Finally we have the neo cortex. That development is relatively recent; it goes back only about 2 to 3 million years ago. That component provides us with our vivid imagination as well as our learning ability. It’s what makes us human and superior to all the other mammals on this planet.”
Fred asked the logical extension to Dodd’s premise. “So when a new component of our brain develops, do the older elements normally become useless, sort of like tonsils or the appendix—phased out of functional existence?”
“Not at all, they remain both functional and interconnected with other parts of the brain as well. They provide constant feedback to each other. However, the more recent additions to the brain tend to become the controllers of the earlier brain functions.”
“Look,” said Fred. “I’m a religious man; I have a hard time believing in this evolution stuff. I hold to the intelligent design theory.”
“That’s your choice, Fred. However one can be religious and still embrace evolution. Remember, God may be static but world religions are not.”
”I don’t get you. Religion has been around for thousands of years.”
“Yes, that’s true, but not in the same form. Remember at one time we believed that the sun revolved around the earth and we thought that the earth was the center of the universe. Our firm religious beliefs drove our misguided scientific beliefs. Copernicus, a scientist, changed that false precept when he dared to suggest that we were not the center of the universe. At one time, anyone possessing any ESP capability would have been regarded as a witch and burned at the stake. Religion is in constant motion; it’s a paradigm. It changes slowly as science proves, even to the most inflexible zealots, that some beliefs are unfounded. Of course, we will always have the ignorant in our society; those that believe we never traveled to the moon or that a Christian president is a Muslim. In my mind, God gave us the ability to continue to develop in order for our species to survive. Many organisms devolved out of existence because they didn’t have the ability to adjust to a changing environment. Wouldn’t a loving God want us to continue to flourish as our environment is disrupted by global warming, bombarded by massive pollution, or assaulted in some other ways in which nature takes its revenge on man’s excesses?”
Fred was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, but he needed to know more so that he could counter Donna in some more balanced way.
“Okay, now tell me about what made Donna so special.”
Dodd wouldn’t give up on his hypothesis. “Fred, have you ever had the feeling that someone was looking at you and you turned around and sure enough they were?”
Fred had to admit that it happened to him often.
“Fred, that’s a form of ESP and it clearly provides a type of early defense for us. When someone is looking at us without our apparent knowledge, the brain sniffs it out as a mild defensive alert. It doesn’t mobilize us to take action to fight or flee, but it does let us know that something is happening that in fact could be a potential problem for us. Fred, I checked into all the scientific reports from a century ago; that unique ability didn’t exist back then. It’s a relatively recent phenomena and it has been developed as an additional evolutionary defensive mechanism for our species. Other ESP capabilities are
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