How to Tame Your Lizard -- Part 3

there's not enough room for the both of us

This post is part of a multi-part post. I am still learning how to use the website. I apologize if you get a refresh of an old post. If you missed the last post, you can look at Part 2 here.

I will try to explain an anomaly of the human brain. It is extremely unlikely that humans would have survived if they only had a frontal lobe. The ability of the “lizard brain” is quite remarkable at making lightning-fast decisions. An instant decision in that classic “fight or flight” situation would be the very thing where only the speed of the decision is the difference in survival or not. A reasonable way to think about the “division of labor” in our heads is that the stuff that just needs to happen almost autonomously, ie. fast, get accomplished in our lizard brain. The previous post focused on our senses. I was trying to make the point that our senses are our windows to the world. The stuff we hear, taste, feel, see, and smell are hard-wired for a response. I think we “know” this because even such basic creatures as beetles can do the very same things and make such “decisions” with breakneck speed.

Nevertheless, it is clear from the evidence that a second brain has been the difference in the steady advance of humanity to advancements that we all take for granted today. What makes the frontal lobe and all of its regions so special? So imagine you walked into a store and you found a salesperson who looked ready to help.

• Salesperson:: Welcome to Neural Depot. How may I help you today?

• Customer:: Hello, I am looking for a computer.

• Salesperson:: Well this is your lucky day. We have an amazing number of computers to choose from. What do you want it to help you do?

• Customer:: Well, I’m not sure, I guess I plan to use it for lots of things.

• Salesperson:: Well that is fine. We have lots of computers. Some can do addition. Some can take pictures. Some can even make phone calls. They typically come with a sensor. For example, the one that takes pictures needs a camera. We call it an eye. The one that makes phone calls needs a microphone. We call it an ear.

• Customer:: Well that all sounds amazing. I think I will take what you have.

• Salesperson:: Okay, so let’s write this up. You want three computers, one for addition, one for photos and one for phone calls.

• Customer:: No, I want one computer that can do all that stuff not just one thing.

• Salesperson:: Oh, I’m sorry, you must want a frontal lobe. I do want to warn you, one of those is pretty cool and it can do all those things but they are a lot slower than single-use computers.

• Customer:: Well I don’t know exactly what I want to use it for. I never imagined I would have solar panels on my roof when I built my house. Now I do. If I was having a problem it would be nice not to run to the store and buy ANOTHER computer just for that.

• Salesperson:: No problem. Single-use computers have been around for billions of years. They are REALLY reliable. The newer multi-use computers are called frontal lobes. They have been around for a while but probably about 1/1000 of the time of the single-use units.

• Customer:: Great I’ll take one of those frontal lobes because all of those things sound swell. It sounds like they are a bit newer but seem to be improving all the time I guess.

• Salesperson:: Well, what we tell customers is the best thing about these frontal lobes is that they can be used for just about anything. Even if it is something you never considered. All you have to do is turn it on and it will figure out even new stuff to try. The most amazing thing is that it can do a lot of things that single-use computers can do also. Once in a while, they work even better so they might see something the single-use camera misses. Most of the time, though, they operate pretty similarly but they are a lot slower.

• Customer:: Well, how much more expensive is it? It is not like I am going to use it all the time. Although, when I need it, the ability to do lots of things would be nice.

• Salesperson:: Most of the additional cost is in the rewiring and setup. They work pretty well with older computers. They do require a bit more maintenance and those costs can add up.

• Customer:: Well I think that sounds great. Is there anything that makes these frontal lobes a hassle?

• Salesperson:: Well, I’m glad you asked. They need to be plugged in ALL THE TIME. Even in an emergency, when your furnace isn’t working, you have to be sure to keep it warm and it will always make sure it takes care of all of its circuits even if that means you have to wear a sweatshirt.

• Customer:: Well that seems a little extreme. Are they reliable and how long have you been selling them?

• Salesperson:: We have been selling versions for about 2 million years. They have been getting better and better. Once in a while when they are not working we can always do an emergency lobotomy. The cool thing is the older single-use computers can always take over and just do stuff impulsively. They are usually correct and a lot faster anyhow.

• Customer:: Do you have any advice for first-time buyers?

• Salesperson:: It is really important, in the first 10-15 years you have it that you try to resist what the single-use computers are always telling you. They will interrupt the frontal lobe whenever they can get away with it. The big challenge for many of our customers is they really like the quick answers and find it hard to wait for the frontal lobe to provide a solution. I guess we counsel everyone to learn to be patient and don’t jump to conclusions.

• Customer:: You’ve got a deal. I’ll take a frontal lobe.

• Salesperson:: Okay, I will write it up. We do sell a training plan as an option. It is sort of like school. We find that most people come to appreciate that the more you train, you will be amazed at how much better results you will get. The training plan doesn’t really cost much and only requires you to spend some time every day with your frontal lobe. You will learn over time how to ignore those single-use computers you already have in your home a lot of the time. While it does take a little time, you will find you will become less angry, and frustrated and learn new stuff over time.

• Customer:: I’ll take the plan. I guess if I am going to have one of these frontal lobes, I may as well figure out how to use it properly.

• Salesperson:: You made the right choice. These units come with a 75-year warranty. After that, they tend to start slowing down. If they are dropped or struck really hard that does void the warranty, however. Sometimes they seem to forget what they told you previously. We tell people to learn to work with them for the first 20 years or so and you will be amazed how helpful it will be for the next 55. Have a great day and thanks for shopping at Neural Depot.

In my last post, I made reference to about two hundred years ago as a critical time in our world. It was probably INEVITABLE that humans would use their frontal lobe to figure out a way to exploit their lizard companion. Technology is neutral, it is only in its application that it may become evil. Before radio and television, for really the first time in human history, a new way of convincing people of buying something was emerging called advertising. While there may have been the basics of advertising before, the science of appealing to people in order to get them to do something or buy something began to emerge. Even though this was mostly newspapers and signs in general stores, a new way to influence people emerged. The sophistication of advertising grew quickly as people came to realize how appeals to people could shape their buying. The most successful campaigns seemed to appeal to your base emotions.

One of my favorite television series in the recent past was Mad Men which was shown on AMC for about eight years from 2007 to 2015. The show captured the “Golden Age” of Madison Avenue and the transformation of Americans into consumers. The campaigns were portrayed very well and an emotional connection was created with the consumer. It was almost as if, “good” advertising could make people unable to resist a product if it was presented in just the right way. In many ways, the science of advertising emerges in the show. If you have not seen it, I heartily recommend it. Here is a Wikipedia article on the topic although I must warn that it may contain spoilers.

So what does all this have to do with lizards? When I embarked on this multi-part post, I knew this would be a bit of a complex story to relate to. An advertising campaign, be it in print, radio or television often makes an emotional appeal. While it is true that an advertisement in a newspaper for toilet paper with a price might not be an emotional appeal, the 1950s and 1960s were the age of memorable brand development like Charmin toilet paper. The science of persuasion started slowly but became a stampede. While a particularly complex or expensive item like a home or a car might need to appeal to that logical part of your brain (frontal lobe), most of the time, smaller purchases are more governed by impulse. While Madison Avenue was amazingly effective at getting us to buy things, there would be one more evolution in advertising to come.

In 1998, a couple of graduate students from Stanford visited Madison Avenue looking for capital for a new idea. They felt they had created TWO amazing products. They wanted to put them together. They called their ideas Google. Most people when they think of Google these days consider it a verb. It is associated with the audacious original mission plan which was:

• “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Fast forward almost 25 years and it has become an indispensable part of our lives. As all-encompassing as the original mission may have seemed at the time, it appears they have largely succeeded. Early corporations were largely public-serving entities and were REQUIRED to provide a public good. Over time, via the courts, they have become more beholden to their shareholders, and making a profit for them has become the “good” that is sought. In its earliest representation, I would argue that organizing the world’s information and making it universally available was truly a PUBLIC GOOD.

If you want a preview of what happens next, a wonderful book was written by Ken Auletta titled Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. Ken is an accomplished reporter who has written many books, often about advertising. The link above is to the GoodReads website with some reviews of the content.

I hope you are enjoying my posts. I have written enough for today and will FINISH the tale tomorrow in Part 4.