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Our ancient (and some would say naïve) conception of human nature has long clung to three dogmas. The first is that we are the creators of our own choices and actions. We are not puppets but free and responsible agents, capable of charting our own path in the world. The second is that human beings are special, different from other animals. Third, we assume that, at least most of the time, our perceptions accurately represent the world as it is.
The scientific study of consciousness has cast doubt on these three beliefs. Take our free will. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to discover that mothers’ brains change during pregnancy. Attributing our moods and behaviors to hormones has become the new common sense. But the idea that our thoughts and actions are the direct result of brain activity can also be unsettling. If “my brain made me do it,” in what sense am I in control of myself?
Much of Crick’s research seems to suggest that the brain is a kind of machine and that we simply follow its orders. One lab is creating models of brain circuits, cell by cell, like a giant arrangement of microscopic Lego pieces. Another team has built a complete map of a fruit fly’s brain, proof of the concept that we might one day do the same with our complex circuits. Crick’s research into Alzheimer’s disease is a sobering reminder that our cognitive abilities depend entirely on healthy, functional brains, and when they break down, so do we.
The fact that much of the research mentioned above has been based on studies of birds, mice and flies also suggests (beyond the need to isolate humans from experimental health risks) that we do not accept the idea that Humans are fundamentally different from other animals. Seriously not anymore. We study animal brains because they tell us things about human brains. But if the gap between humans and other animals is closing, does that mean we should place less value on human life or respect that of other creatures much more? Either way, the species hierarchy upon which we have built our moral universe has been disrupted.
Perhaps most disturbing is the idea that we don’t even perceive the world as it is. For centuries we have known that exactly how the world appears to us is determined by our senses, not by the things themselves. The green of grass, for example, is generated by our visual system. But more recent research goes even further. Our brains not only color (sometimes literally) our perceptions, they actually construct them. Brains are not passive recipients of perception, but rather “prediction machines” that see what they expect to see and hear what they expect to hear.