To quell my boredom during a lull at work, I yet again pondered my inner psyche and googled "unique properties human brain". The first page that popped up was a masterfully written paper titled "What makes us so singularly human?" by Silvia Helena Cardoso & Renato M.E. Sabbatini, the salient points of which I have excerpted here.
... we can say that our uniqueness lies in our (enormous) brain. It is by means of this huge (brain) that we possess high levels of synthetic analysis. It is there that our worldview is analyzed, planned and programmed to carry out actions and thoughts.
... we gradually developed self-control, that is, the capacity to modify any social behavior, even an instinctive one, in order to make it more useful to our survival.
The more disciplined we are, the more capable of self-control and of planning, the more our rational mind will be able to dominate the emotional and instinctive minds, the more human we will be.
Therefore, human species also has the singular capacity of controlling the emotional brain by means of the rational brain.
Many philosophers even doubt the possibility of one day the brain understanding itself. Maybe the structural and functional complexity of our brain is so huge that we may never be able to grasp it.
A person who ponders about this knows that somehow, life is incomprehensible.
Given my past indiscretions due to lack of discipline, need I now question my humanity? And will I be better served if I abort my quest to understand the incomprehensible?
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