Suman K Sharma
s2m2nr@gmail.com
In the article Are We Special (DE, 3 Aug 2025), we ended up with a teaser on the superiority of man over the rest of the animal kingdom.
There is that eloquent scene in the Bollywood epic movie, Deevar: Ravi (Shashi Kapur) is a humble police officer; while his older brother, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), is a powerful don. In an intense confrontation between the two, Ravi wins the argument with a pithy utterance, “Mere pas Ma hai!” We can conceive of similar occasions in our remote past when an arche-ancestor of ours succeeded in outwitting a ferocious beast or overcame a big hurdle in that primal world. “Mere pas dimaghai!” he might have uttered something like that, congratulating himself for his brains.
Yet, it cannot be denied that most of the other creatures are also equipped with quite a distinct brain, which lies well shielded against the rough and tumble of the rest of the body.Even one-celled organisms such as bacteria have their nucleoid, a control mechanism. That being so, there must be something peculiar in the human brain which has given man an edge over other species, such that the claws of a lion, the fangs of a serpent, or the jaws of a crocodile prove ineffectual before the wits of an intelligent man.
It was true in the past; it is equally true now. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) has rightly said,”Cogito, ergo sum!” – I think, therefore I am. The job is performed by the frontal lobe. Located right behind our forehead, it is the largest part of the brain, managing practically everything that makes us what we are: our thinking, emotions, personality, judgment, self-control, muscle control and movements.
Even so, to ascribe our success in the planet solely to the frontal lobe (or ‘frontal cortex’ as the professionals might say) would seem a gross oversimplification. All other primates – from the mighty gorilla to the cute little pygmy marmoset – have it too.What makes it special in the case of human beings is how thoroughly the species has put it to use all through its evolutionary history.
The change from the quadrupedal to bipedal – four-limbed to two-limbed mode of standing/walking – warranted intrusive and persistent thinking on how best to use the ‘spare’ pair of front limbs. The hairless primate, whom Desmond Morris teasingly describes as ‘the naked ape’ was naked in ways more than one. He was naked not only to the elements but naked also before the beasts much stronger and fiercer than him. Here his thinking came to help. He learnt to use fire for his own ends. He became an accomplished hunter-gatherer. He taught himself how to shield himself against the extremes of weather, first with the animal skin and much later, with tailored clothing.
Then a big geomagnetic event happened some forty-two thousand years ago. Scientists call it ‘Leschamp’s Excursion.’ The Earth’s magnetic field got so reversed that its North Pole became the South Pole. This episode of the planet’s lifecould not have lasted for long. Yet it left a catastrophic effect on the atmosphere. Earth’s protective shield of ozone was gone during the period, exposing the life to harsh phenomena such as solar winds and electric storms.
The weather became so cold that the warm-blooded animals found it hard to survive. Poor dear Neanderthals became extinct. But not our ancestors, Homo sapiens. They pulled through somehow, finding refuge in natural caves or self-made abodes.
That raises a question. The Neanderthals lived and looked almost like our forebears. They had larger brains than us and seemed to apply their mind to solve life’s wrangles. They used fire. They painted their bodies and created cave paintings. Burying their dead, they thought perhaps of the afterlife. So how it was that they failed eventually in the struggle for survival vis a vis the humankind?Scientist would come out with an answer some day.
Was it brains, destiny or something more that made man a winner?
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