Page 18 - Ruminations

16. Homo sapiens deconstructed

Instead of looking at the development of the triune brain for clues
to human nature, one might consider a human being as containing
three functionally distinct clusters of evolved characteristics:

Homo animalis: all instinctive capacities of survive-and-thrive,
structural and functional; universal to fauna.

Homo habilis: the distinctly human ability to reason and maintain
an internal symbolic awareness and an external culture reflecting it.

Homo puerilis: human heterochronicity required for prolonged
intellectual and social development within a tight familial nexus.

Within this trichotomy the relatively recent H. habilis and H.
puerilis are co-dependent products of selective pressure on H.
animalis, but once set in motion their relationship is problematic.
From the beginning, human behavior is a mix of physical and cultural
evolution and devolution:

Evolution: H. animalis is rationally subsumed by H. habilis, and
enabled by H. puerilis.

Devolution: H. habilis is irrationally subsumed by H. animalis, and
enabled by H. puerilis.

H. animalis is the wild card, as an irreducible base: it can favor H.
habilis (“we’d better think about this”) or H. puerilis (“we’d better
follow orders”); and the nature of H. habilis leads to the manipulation
and exploitation of others via H. puerilis (usually through deception
and delusion operating on basic H. animalis survive-and-thrive
mechanisms).
And here the inherent self-destructive mechanism can be found
within humanity: our species is “sapient” because H. puerilis and H.
habilis have co-evolved. Knowledge and wisdom are at the mercy of
infantile dependency, without which they would not exist. Human
history reflects the dynamic of intellectual growth and technical
innovation warped and misdirected by social and cultural immaturity.
If our unfinished history were portrayed as Greek tragedy, H. habilis
would provide the hubris and H. puerilis the fatal flaw.