From “The Strange Order of Things – Life, Feeling, and the Making of Culrures” by Antonio Damasio
— Will Durant
— Richard Maybury
We have 21st century minds, but our brains and bodies are from the Paleolithic. That’s when humans became humans.
Compared to the condition of our ancestors, we of the modern unnatural world are fantastically hale and hearty. But — my key point — today’s male is walking around with the amount of testosterone necessary to cope with the poverty of the natural Paleolithic.
I don’t write about women, here or anywhere else, because I’ve never been one and don’t know enough about them. So this article is mostly about men. I find us rather simple and transparent.
After being a man and watching them for 70 years, I think everything about our behavior boils down to just two words, testosterone toxicity. Well, not everything, but plenty.
I truly mean toxicity, poisoning. In my opinion, the removal of natural stressors makes our Stone Age level of testosterone poisonous — so much so that this is the most dangerous — and unrecognized — medical and behavioral problem in today’s world.
I believe this poisoning explains, for instance, both world wars, the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crises.
Think about it. Males have not only enough testosterone to generate the gumption to charge a mastodon, but enough to win the fight using just sticks and rocks. What would we expect from such people when they’re given control over tanks, artillery and aircraft carriers?
Ask any doctor. Testosterone is a powerful psychotropic chemical. It can warp judgment just as surely as alcohol and cocaine. History offers many examples.”
— Hippocrates (Greek physician 460-377 BC)
— Steve Jobs
One of the very few silver linings about me getting sick is that Reed’s gotten to spend a lot of time studying with some very good doctors… I think the biggest innovations of the twenty-first century will be the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning, just like the digital one when I was his age.”
— David Eifrig Jr.
It feels good to make the right call.
Maybe you predicted the Super Bowl champ at the start of the season or backed the winning presidential candidate early on. When you look back and can say you knew what was going to happen, it gives you bragging rights. And in the financial business, it can make you money.
But recognize that the human brain wasn’t built for modesty…
We tend to trumpet our insights, but brush off all the wrong forecasts we make. You don’t deserve much credit for your Super Bowl prediction. One dropped interception by your young defensive back could have changed the entire outcome. And what about the other years when you’ve gotten it wrong?
Even worse, you can fool yourself into thinking you called something that you didn’t… Today, the number of folks who claim to have known that Donald Trump would win the election far exceeds the number who predicted it publicly beforehand.”