The Evolutionary Gap

Descartes had claimed that what makes us different than animals is, us having a mind. He also said that humans had mental abilities such as the capacity to wonder, curiosity, imitation, attention, memory, reasoning, and aesthetic sensibility. (Domjan, The Principles of Learning and Behavior, 2008) Darwin claimed that human mind is a product of evolution. In search of intelligence in animals, scientists made several attempts after these claims.

   There are some aspects of human behavior that separates humans from nonhuman animals. However, the issue depends on how we define intelligence. Nonhuman animals also have the capacity to make decisions, but based on what? Humans decide to choose to do something, whereas nonhumans decisions are made by their instincts, which means that the actions are predetermined.
Humans acquire language, but nonhumans learn it to some extent. -By language I mean human language, not nonhuman animal communication-

   Let's look at this idea from a Darwinian perspective. He believed that human mind was a product of evolution. It does not matter for how long we have been living on this planet but we all have been living together in it for quite some time. What made our evolution faster than nonhumans so that we have a mind and they don't, looking from the perspective of Descartes? Are we here to learn and they to enjoy? -I choose to leave aside the ethical issues in this writing, it is an entirely different subject to discuss- Our brains have prefrontal cortex to make decisions and reason, so does mammals but not other animals.

So why don't they operate in the way that we do, why is there still a wide gap between our evolutionary state and theirs, because both human and nonhuman animals have intelligence that come from instincts?

Is our perception of time going to change any soon?

"Time is forever dividing itself toward innumerable futures..." ~ The Garden of Forking Paths, J.L. Borges 

For centuries, the human mind has adapted itself to think linear, according to the concept of time; "yesterday", "today" and "tomorrow", time being the most relevant construction of our lives. When we observe the concept of time as a more complex entity, time being a constant in many different dimensions; our perceptions of it are not changing concurrently. Why?
Most likely, it is because of us being habitual creatures as human beings. Our brains ability to construct data is through memory and memory works best when it captures the moments via chronological order. Otherwise, I suppose that we would go insane not perceiving our daily lives moment by moment. But perhaps, by thinking about time in a more complex manner, we can prepare our own evolution. -Scientists say that the prefrontal cortex of the human brain is responsible for constructing data according to chronological order and also it is the most capable part of the brain that has plasticity- Let's say that we have managed all. This means that the only problem left is our daily lives. How are we going to integrate this new concept into it? Maybe, in the search of a time machine, we don't realize that our own brains are the ultimate masters of time, having the capability of going through back and forth in time and space, being the most sophisticated machine of all "times".

"Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision." ~Ayn Rand

Make God Of Yourself

A-Mors Amore which means Love comes from the latin word, a-mors which means deathless. Where there is love, there can be no fear, no death. Why don't they teach us why and where we came from in schools? They don't want open minds. Instead, we learn to be blinded, shut our minds down and be scared to death of anything that might happen. Or be numb and drugged. We don't really "know" but we do everything out of fear, subconsciously. Fear of that one day we will die and we won't get to do everything that we "want" to do and thus we rush into everything even if we don't want to, even consciously. Did you ever think that you don't have to be so clever to work and earn money because it is why this system is build for? What would you do if today was your last day on earth? What would you do today if you knew you'd live forever?

Spying

What's actually fun about photography that I lately discovered is: the camera being a spy gadget without hiding.
The manners are different of course. But why do I like to spy?
First of all it remains a certain mystery. And when I walk around with my camera people
cooperate with me. Like the waiter who stood and waited for me to take the second photograph for five minutes. And he was really patient. Secondly when I am interested in a subject I make people around me feel comfortable. I don't usually talk or say something, just a comforting smile, or a look in the eye is enough.
And my last but not least discovery is the new neurons that help us experience other peoples' experiences thus make them our own! Yes. that's right. Our capacities of evolving are getting faster. Remember how you feel when you see someone eating a rat --not a regular Turkish meal-- and you see the awful look in their eyes. It is the time now that you taste it without actually eating it. For further scientifical explanations please visit:
http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html

So spying could help you discover something new if your interpreter is clever.