The Spirit in Human Evolution - Waldorf Research Institute

mean body mass. In comparing species EQ levels one also has to take into account the
fact that brain size must increase by a factor of 0.75 for each unit of body size increase,
just to maintain the same level of function.
At each major stage of evolution, for example, from amphibian and reptile to
mammal there has been a dramatic relative increase in the size of the brain. Modern
mammals, which evolved some 65 million years ago, have about five times more brain
than their ancestors. Primates have on average twice as much brain as other modern
mammals, and humans have about three times as much brain as the average monkey or
ape (an achievement matched, incidentally, by dolphins).
The Powers of Representation
Two of the main functions of the brain are the integration of sensory information
and the co-ordination of responses. An animal’s experience of the world is dependent on
what sensory information it receives and what system it has for integrating it. The brain
and nervous system create a mental representation of the world, a framework within
which the animal can live effectively. As Jerison puts it, the brain monitors the world
“out there” and creates a model of it “in here.” 24
The cognitive capacity of an animal is reflected in the complexity of its mental
world, what I described as sentient soul in Chapter 3. The inner world experienced by an
ape is more complex than that experienced by the average mammal. The relationship of
“out there” to “in here” must be correspondingly different, but not necessarily better in
terms of survival effectiveness. Presumably a lizard’s version of reality, its mental model,
is perfectly adequate for the successful long-term survival of its species even though it
may be much simpler than that of a mouse inhabiting much the same habitat (say the
stone wall and garden of Graham’s holiday find in Mallorca, of which I also have a mental
picture and warm memories).
The difference has to do with the range of sensory “inputs” into the model of
reality created by the brain. In amphibians the primary sense is vision; in reptiles olfaction
(smell) is more important. In most mammals auditory faculties are added to olfaction
and vision. In primates olfaction is less dominant but there is a dramatic increase in
stereoscopic and color vision. Primates and other social mammals, and probably the
large-brained cetaceans (whales and dolphins), have the faculty to create complex spatial
“mental-maps” of their habitats as well as being able to keep track of the even more
complex social behavior of their fellows.
Hand in hand with the increase in representational ability goes the increase in
possible behavioral responses, since more information gives more options. Animals
with greater representational powers have greater freedom of behavior—indeed
these two faculties must develop in tandem through reciprocal feedback. This gives
us a good example of directionality in evolution, a trend towards greater behavioral
flexibility and at the same time a progressive distancing of the animal from a direct
relationship to its environment, since more layers of cognitive processing separate the
animal from immediate interaction with the external world. This is a clear trend towards
emancipation. As the linguist Derek Bickerton put it,
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24
Jerison, H.J. and I. Jerison, 1988. See also Lewin, R., “The Great Brain Race,” in New Scientist,
December 5, 1992.
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