Schizophrenia risk genes are unique to the human species and are what make us unique in our behavior and mental abilities. No other species has these risk genes to a comparable extent, including primates, and more importantly, including fellow hominids such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. Homo Erectus went extinct too long ago for any DNA sample to survive, if we had even one sample of Erectus DNA it is likely that all the major questions of human evolution would be solved. But we do not have even one sample, nor can we, as DNA lasts at most 50,000 years.
This all matters tremendously, Schizophrenia affects one percent of the population and destroys their lives, they are essentially zeros as far as human flourishing goes in the context of evolution. In order for the risk genes related to this devastating disease to survive there must be a proportional benefit to the genes, a vast benefit to compensate for the vast damage caused by the disease. No other animal gets Schizophrenia, no other animal gets anything even close to it.
When scientists speak of lab animals bred to serve as Schizophrenic analogues in research they are referring to mice bred to mimic the startle response defects seen in human Schizophrenics in the hope that mice bred to possess this defect will react to drug treatments in a manner analogous to humans. But they are not Schizophrenic mice, they are mice with a defective startle response. There are no Schizophrenic animals, not even primates, and from what hominid DNA we possess, no other hominid ever possessed these risk genes in the manner that humans do. We are alone in possessing this large number of them.
These Schizophrenia risk genes survive in large numbers in the population, everyone has them. People who have more of them, there are over a hundred, are more likely to develop Schizophrenia. But having a large number of risk genes does not guarantee the disease, nor does having a small number guarantee its absence and everyone has at least some of them. They are a universal part of our genetic makeup. No other animal has this feature in its genome, it is the one aspect of our genetic makeup that is most unique. There are other animals with large brains, or thumbs, or who walk erect, and there are other primates. We share so much with the animal world, except for this, this is ours alone. Only we have this many Schizophrenia risk genes in our population, and everyone has them.
My position is that it is these risk genes that allow us to have such complicated social structures and thoughts, it is these genes that make us different from even other animals with brains as large or larger than ours. Schizophrenia risk genes are the source of human uniqueness.
DNA only lasts 50,000 years, the human race is estimated to be between 300,000 and 100,000 years old. Carbon-14 dating is only reliable to roughly 45,000 years back, I believe the exactness of Carbon-14 dating estimates gives the public excessive confidence in our ability to date artifacts. For something older than roughly 45,000 years we have to work with very rough estimates. There are various means to estimate the age, but all have their flaws and one must always remember that when going this far back everything is always a guess, an educated guess, but still a guess.
It is difficult to date fossilized human remains and soft tissue never fossilizes, all we have are the bones and we can only make educated guesses at their age. From the data we have it appears that going very far back hominids had a general bone structure very close to our own. Our bodies seemed to have settled on the basic human form before we even became human. It appears that after the basic form as shown by fossilized bones was settled on there was some sort of change in the soft tissue that never fossilizes or preserves in any way and this change invisible to us is what created humans out of hominid ancestors. If we had even one single example of Homo Erectus DNA this question would be easily answered, but we do not and never will. All we have is bones and DNA 50,000 years old and less.
At some point after our basic form was achieved we made a further evolution that separated us from anatomically similar hominids. I believe the Schizophrenia risk genes were this further evolution, the creation of the uniquely human mind. Let me return to the topic of animal analogues for Schizophrenia research. If you hear a loud noise you will be startled, your heart rate will increase, you will react in measurable physical ways. If the loud noise is repeated at a constant interval each time the noise is repeated your startle reaction should diminish as you come to expect the sound. This measurable reduction in the startle response is predictable and happens in most healthy people. For many Schizophrenics, the startle response is the same each time the loud noise is played. This is something mice can be bred to exhibit and this is what they do to try, unsuccessfully, to make Schizophrenic mice.
Schizophrenics are not the only ones with a startle response that does not attenuate. When taking psychedelic drugs the startle response will also stop attenuating, each repetition of the loud noise will produce the same reaction. When skilled Buddhist meditators are meditating they also do not attenuate the startle response after repetition. This is one of many similarities between the use of psychedelic drugs and skilled meditation.
The lack of attenuation of the startle response is a defect in the information filter built into the animal brain which directs attention to the more useful information available. New things are of interest because the information filter directs attention away from old things to new things because learning about them is the more useful information. Once the new thing is understood well enough it becomes an old thing and attention is directed elsewhere. This is unconscious and cannot be controlled.
If you show up thirty minutes early for an IQ test you will score a few points higher than if you arrive right before the start. When in a new room or situation the information filter forces you to examine the surroundings. This causes a slight decrease in performance. Safety is a higher priority for the brain than ambition, you cannot force yourself to focus entirely on the IQ test when something new is nearby. Part of your brain will be examining the new thing until it is understood, the information filter forces you to do this and you cannot stop it. This direction of attention is genetically determined and not under conscious control, our attention is directed toward new things in the environment until we understand if they are harmful or beneficial and to what degree. When you know this about something it is now an old thing.
I believe humans evolved their uniqueness through the Schizophrenia risk genes, and these genes allow us to uniquely have a conscious influence over the information filter in every animal brain. This is the same information filter affected by mental illness, psychedelic drugs, and meditation. It exists in all animal brains, but humans uniquely have an ability to consciously influence the information filter. We do this through the Schizophrenia risk genes which we alone possess.
Humans use this conscious influence over the information filter to create artificial and false views of reality. We consciously exert an ability to block out information we want blocked out using the information filter which we have conscious influence over due to the Schizophrenia risk genes. We filter out certain parts of the reality around us to create an artificial and false representation of reality within our minds. This artificial and false representation of reality is how we form complicated social groups and is the source of our human uniqueness.
Humans are the only animal that can consciously believe in something that it subconsciously knows is not real. Humans can use this ability to consciously control the information filter and select which information makes it into the consciousness to form an intentionally inaccurate description of reality. No other animal can do this. The human brain is the only thinking device on Earth that is ever wrong on purpose. This is being demonstrated by Artificial Intelligence, which fails to inaccurately describe the world in the way humans take for granted. This is what is meant when AI is described as Islamophobic or sexist. The AI digests the information and accurately describes reality, but the human mind insists on an inaccurate description of reality and so is critical of the truth.
Every diagnostic guide states that delusions are a persistent belief in something which contradicts the known facts, but always makes an exception for cultural and religious beliefs. If these two were included we would all be delusional. All of us, including the atheists and scientists. Everyone has a delusional belief within them. Psychology quickly brushes aside the deeper meaning of the cultural and religious exceptions allowed, no real answer is given why these do not qualify as delusions. The reason is Psychology does not have a real answer why these two categories of persistent false belief are part of a healthy mind and not a Schizophrenic mind.
The problem Psychology is making is not correctly observing when and where delusions are Schizophrenic. The real answer is not that they are healthy, or at least normal when applied to culture and religion, but that they are normal when applied to the group and abnormal when applied to the individual. This is the difference between the Schizophrenic mind and the healthy, or at least normal mind: delusions are only held to benefit the group, never the individual.
To hold a persistent belief in an inaccurate description of reality in the face of contrary evidence never benefits the individual. We instinctively recognize this. When we observe an individual trying to benefit himself in this manner we instantly recognize this as madness. As individuals we when healthy are like the animals, we recognize reality as it is to the best of our abilities. When we see others who are good at this we admire them, when we see others who attempt to use delusional belief to benefit themselves individually we instantly categorize them as mad, and they are. It is madness to think any individual would ever benefit from an inaccurate description of reality.
But we instantly recognize that inaccurate descriptions of reality can benefit the group. We categorize persistent belief in descriptions of reality as faith, or as some other positive category, when it is the group that benefits from the belief and not the individual. The human mind instantly understands that inaccurate descriptions of reality are madness for the individual, but sanity for the group. The purpose of inaccurate descriptions of reality is to coordinate cooperation between selfish individuals, and we evolved to do this through conscious influence over the information filter within the human brain, an influence we gained through the Schizophrenia risk genes. The price is some people will go too far and use this ability to create delusions for their individual purposes, which is nothing but madness. The one percent who go mad is the price we pay for being human.
Humans have free will and can choose to be good, but for understanding the evolution of man’s instincts we have to assume that like all animals he is perfectly selfish, or at least was while evolving. Being perfectly selfish his only motive for cooperating with others would be his own gain. This cooperation was produced by a mental process involving consciously using the information filter to create a false representation of reality which increases the regard of the group over other groups. To join the group one must participate in this false representation of reality. One must demonstrate that one has used his own influence over his mind to filter reality according to the manner of the group he wants to belong to, he must demonstrate his faith.
Each identity is produced by a distinct set of information filters. One set produces a Christian, another a Hindu, and another an Atheist. You join a group by adopting the set of information filters which creates that group identity. You use the ability to consciously choose to block out information that we gained from the Schizophrenia risk genes and block out the set of facts necessary to produce the group identity sought. Each group identity is a delusion. Each group identity is a set of information filters producing a specific delusion. It is through these delusions that groups are formed.
Humans have the most complex social organization of any animal. We do this through the Schizophrenia risk genes. What organizes these large and complex groups, larger and more complex than any animal, is the specific delusions that define the group identity. All group identities involve an inaccurate description of reality, we instinctively understand this. When we see someone inaccurately describe the world for the sake of his group we immediately understand the purpose and judge in one manner. If we see someone inaccurately describe the world for his own individual gain we immediately assume he is a liar or mad. We never judge the individual use of inaccurate descriptions of reality the way we judge the group use.
Human social organization is founded on delusional beliefs. On some level within us, we understand these are delusions. At our core, we do not believe these things to be true. But we instinctively and without any hesitation understand that we use inaccurate descriptions of reality to organize cooperation between selfish individuals. We understand our own minds, we know that we use what we would call madness in the individual as faith when used by the group. The Psychiatric exclusion of religious and cultural beliefs from being considered as delusions hides the reality, it is not religion and culture, it is the group. The human mind treats it as normal for the group to use descriptions of reality that it would consider madness in the individual. The dividing line between mad and normal is whether or not delusions are being used for the individual's purpose or the group's.
We became the most advanced animal in the world through the Schizophrenia risk genes which only we possess. We are unique in the world in possessing the ability to intentionally and knowingly adopt a false description of reality as our guide. We evolved to do this to organize cooperation among self-interested individuals. One percent of us go mad from these genes and try to use false descriptions of reality for their individual purposes, this inevitably fails as it would if an animal suffered a delusion. But uniquely when we use false descriptions of reality to organize cooperation among individuals, to make the individuals work together as one, we make practical use of what would seem to be the most impractical thing in the world: madness.
Filter By:
