We’re unique creatures, humans. Not only are we conscious of our own mortality, but our survival is based solely on our ability to outwit the environment. We are vulnerable, soft, squishy, and unprotected…we probably taste like chicken. Humanity never developed the ability to outrun threats or blend into our surroundings. Rather, we utilize cognition and reason to navigate the world, and have developed tools that allow our success as a species.
Because our survival is dependent on our capacity to think…to fashion tools and to plan, our brains are very good at extrapolating information. We can take existing knowledge about the world and use it to fill in the blanks, positing theories about what is yet unknown. If the information is good, this strategy can be very successful. In his book The First Brain: The Neuroscience of Planarians, Dr. Oné Pagán discusses this concept. In regards to scientific Theory…