Why are Humans So Unique?
Why did we get these incredibly complex brains with both the hardware
and software for language? And where did consciousness and acts of
heroism come from? Is there any evolutionary explanation for these
uniquely human qualities?
THREE POUNDS OF LUMPY GRAY AMAZEMENT
So, what are we to make of the human brain? We generally associate
complexity with intelligence. The more complex a building or machine,
the more intelligence is required to engineer it. The human brain, for
starters, contains 12 billion neuron cells intertwined with 100
trillion connections. To illustrate a number as large as 100 trillion,
molecular biologist Michael Denton suggests visualizing a solid forest
of trees covering half the United States. If each tree contains one
hundred thousand leaves, the connections in a human brain would equal
the total number of leaves in the entire forest.
Yet the brains connections are not mere intersections like those in a
highway system, but rather are a highly organized network far
exceeding the complexity of all the communication networks on planet
Earth.
Our memories (one billion trillion bits of them) are not isolated in
one section of the brain but instead are intertwined throughout the
network. Each junction has the potential to be part of a memory. So
the memory capacity of a human brain is effectively infinite. Inside
that three pounds of gray matter of yours is enough information to
fill 20 million books (19 million if you arent that bright).
As we examine our universe, nothing else in it even remotely
approaches the complexity of the human brain. Stephen Hawking compares
the complexity of the human brain with most present-day computers and
reveals the overwhelming superiority of our brains: In comparison
with most computers which have one central processing unit, the brain
has millions of processing units all working at the same time.
Even if communication engineers could apply the most sophisticated
engineering techniques known to humanity, the assembly of an object
remotely resembling the human brain would require an eternity of time.
Even then, they still wouldnt know where to begin.4 The overwhelming
processing power takes place within an area of our brains called the
cerebral cortex, and it is here where the human enigma is most
apparent.
THE MYSTERY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The cerebral cortex is the area of our brains where, mysteriously,
matter is transformed into consciousness.5 The cerebral cortex
distinguishes human beings from all other animals. Though the
difference between the human genome and that of a chimp is estimated
to be less than 1 percent, our cerebral cortex has ten times more
neurons.6 But that is not the total story. Mayr reveals, The unique
character of our brain seems to lie in the existence of many (perhaps
as many as forty) different types of neurons.7 And in spite of the
DNA similarities, between humans and chimpanzees, there are still some
40 million differences.8
Additionally, recent studies have shown that chimpanzees lack
awareness of their own thoughts, a trait that appears to be uniquely
human.9
Awareness of thoughts is something that is beyond our ability to
create, even in the most sophisticated software programs. When chess
Grandmaster Gary Kasparov was defeated by the IBM supercomputer, Deep
Blue, the computer didnt even realize it had won. Deep Blue lacked
this self-awareness we take for granted. It is called consciousness, a
mystery that has baffled philosophers and scientists for centuries.
Our awareness, with its manipulation of ideas, actually takes place in
the prefrontal cortex.10 It is here that we reason, ponder, imagine,
fantasize, and seek answers to why we exist. This prefrontal cortex
area in a human makes up a far larger proportion of the cerebral
cortex than in any animal, and it is the most complex arrangement of
matter in the universe.11
If we could shrink in size and become spectators to the incredible
activity in the innermost portion of the cerebral cortex, we might see
something resembling a kaleidoscope of fireworks networking in all
directions. Yet these electrical impulses are billions of organized
patterns that result in our thoughts and imaginations. All of these
thoughts intersect with our self-awareness.
While consciousness is at rest during sleep, the brain is still in
action. Even in sleep, the brain is pulsing, throbbing and flashing
with the complex business of human lifedreaming, remembering,
figuring things out. Our thoughts, visions and fantasies have a
physical reality.12
Nobody really understands consciousness or how we got it. Sir John
Maddox, former editor-in-chief of the journal Nature, addresses the
puzzle of consciousness: Nobody understands how decisions are made or
how imagination is set free. What consciousness consists of, or how it
should be defined, is equally puzzling. We seem as far from
understanding cognitive processes as we were a century ago.13
For years materialists have tried to reduce humans to nothing more
than a series of drives and instincts.
However, in reality human consciousness chooses between the instincts,
and it is as different and separate from them as the pianist is from
the keys he chooses to play on the piano. The consciousness sits over
and above our instincts, drives, and desires, and it chooses which it
will act upon.14
Thus, man can choose to disregard his own desire to survive for a
higher purpose. Such an act of heroism works counter to Darwins
survival of the fittest, and is unexplainable by materialists. There
seems to be something about consciousness that transcends
self-preservation.
Another example of consciousness is the objectivity of the selfyou
distinguish yourself from your experiences. When stimulated, you
distinctly feel that pain or pleasure is happening to you and that you
are distinct from the experience causing the pain or pleasure. It is
this objective awareness of our own thoughts that appears to be unique
to human beings.
So difficult is the problem posed by our consciousness that Laurence
C. Wood said, Many brain scientists have been compelled to postulate
the existence of an immaterial mind, even though they might not
embrace a belief in life after death.15
What process in natural selection could have led to human
consciousness? Although evolutionists have taken a stab at it, no one
really knows. Neither do scientists have an explanation for human
imagination or creativity.
In human beings, the ability to simulate alternative future events
appears to take place within our subjective consciousness. Oxford
zoologist Richard Dawkins admits that nothing in Darwinian evolution
accounts for it. Although Dawkins remains an ardent materialist, he
writes, Why this should have happened is to me, the most profound
mystery facing modern biology.16
Even leading evolutionist Stephen J. Gould recognized the inability of
natural selection to explain the human brain. Gould admitted, I dont
know why the brain got large in the first place. It certainly wasnt
so that we could paint pictures or write symbols.17
DIFFERENT BY DESIGN?
Why did we get these incredibly complex brains with both the hardware
and software for language? And according to evolutionists, our brains
have remained unchanged. Mayr writes, What is perhaps most
astonishing is the fact that the human brain seems not to have changed
one single bit since the first appearance of Homo sapiens.18 And
where did consciousness and acts of heroism come from? There seems to
be no evolutionary explanation for any of these unique human
qualities.
In his book What Evolution Is, Ernst Mayr argues that our species is
the only one of over a billion species that resulted in exceptional
intelligence.19
So what are we to make of us? We create music and art. We dream and
imagine. We endeavor to reach the stars, launching space shuttles and
peering at the universe through powerful telescopes. And we wonder why
we are here on this tiny speck called Earth. The enigma of man seems
to point to something or someone beyond ourselves.
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