Splendours and miseries of the brain

In this speculative essay, I examine two evolutionary developments underlyi ng the enormous success of the human brain: its capacity to acquire knowled ge and its variability across individuals. A feature of an efficient knowle dge-acquiring system is, I believe, its capacity to abstract and to formula te ideals. Both attributes carry with them a clash between experience of th e particular and what the brain has developed from experience of the many. Both therefore can lead to much disappointment in our daily lives. This dis appointment is heightened by the fact that both abstraction and ideals are subject to variability in time within an individual and between individuals . Variability which is a cherished source for evolutionary selection, can a lso be an isolating and individualizing feature in society Thus the very fe atures of the human brain which underlie our enormous evolutionary success can also be a major source of our misery.