Hello! I just joined because I've been a lurker here for a long time, and I'd like to see what you all think of this..as i think it is extremely important
This book has had a huge impact on my life and i think the implications for this theory (and the evidence supporting it) are ginormous. I've done extensive self experimentation and research and it seems to be well supported, which is evident by the growing number of eminent scientists supporting such a young theory. This is basically an epigenetic idea of how the hormones and chemicals in food have affected our evolution. The book is Left In The Dark, by Tony Wright. Lots of info on his site: http://leftinthedark.org.uk/
free online .pdf on scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/4390832/Review-Copy-of-Left-in-the-Dark
good short summary of the theory in an article on this site: http://www.brainwaving.com/2009/11/17/377/
Some things to keep in mind when reading the articles summary:
-If there was even the most minute chance that our brains were not functioning at 100%, wouldn't the most logical thing to do would be to look into it? Tons of evidence suggests this. Our diet is now, according to Katherine Milton, 95% removed from what it used to be when we evolved in the jungles of Africa. This means we only get 5% of what we used to when our mysteriously large brains exploded in size ( we now know they've since stopped expanding so rapidly, and some evidence shows they've begun shrinking). Food is what builds our body and neural system; the most complex and delicate thing in the known universe. And as anyone whose gotten drunk, taken marijuana, or a psychedelic knows, the brain is extremely sensitive to even minute amounts of chemicals. Fruit is the most complex and biochemically rich food we’ve ever seen and its packed with chemicals. To paraphrase Tony's engineering analogy: if a car, which pales in comparison to the complexity of our brains, were to be built and fueled by only 5% of what it was designed to be built out of, would we really expect it to be functional at all? Even 50% functional? of course not
-There are hints of higher functioning. Like speed reading, photographic memory, high meditation states, 'savant' abilities, ectect. many of these have actually been triggered by damage to the left hemisphere. for example, there was news recently of a girl who suddenly became a stunningly creative painter after her left hemisphere was removed. There is many cases similar to this. The reason why it wouldn't emerge in everyone with a left hemispherectomy is obvious if you understand the importance of the fuel or build materials that i just talked about
-Countless religions and myths from ancient cultures tell tales of 'the fall of mankind' from a previous 'golden age', and employ tactics/techniques to regain connection with a more balanced and in touch way of being. This is a worldwide phenomenon.
-Our closest relatives, the primates, still get tons of fruit in their diet, each containing thousands of phytochemicals that boost pineal functions, neurotransmitter activity, the immune system, ect..a tomato alone has 10,000 of these.They also get roughly 3-4 thousand milligrams of vitamin C, a very important antioxidant. The daily recommendation in the U.S. these days is 53 milligrams..and we probably used to get at least 3-4 thousand mg while evolving
-A surplus of testosterone in the uterus has been linked with left hemispheric damage in autistic people (from what i understand). in some cases this leads to the left hemisphere becoming less able to suppress the right, leading to savant abilities. This surplus has also been linked to the ever declining age of puberty, which is where neural and endocrine development begins to slow. There is no evolutionary benefit from our thymus shrinking in response to the surplus of testosterone at puberty.
-Dr. Allen Snyders research that inhibiting the left hemisphere opens up suppressed right hemispheric functions leading to higher creativity, more awareness, better visual memory, and others.
-Just look around around with this idea in mind..pollution, deforestation, slavery, overpopulation, starvation while others buy yachts..look at this society where a state of anxiety and fear is the norm, where each country spends thousands of man hours and dollars designing and manufacturing countless devices made to kill other people. Where our genius is focused on creating these devices designed to slaughter our own species. Where people are completely oblivious to the bigger picture and how they are being spoon fed crap by the media (and fastfood) all day. I mean..we are in the bottom of a gravity well on this beautiful slime-covered magma rock soaring through space..thousands of miles an hour around a nuclear fireball (the sun) in the neighborhood of billions of other swarms of trillions of nuclear fireballs(galaxies!) and people act as if this is 'normal'!
Our culture is largely a reflection, or expression, of our collective psychology. And we all sense something is wrong with our society...Some people don't even have any idea of what is wrong with our system, but they sense it on visceral level.
The above is just some of my thoughts on topics mentioned in the book and other things on my mind. I'm just curious to see what people think about this
Any thoughts?