| | | So it was an accident ...
Fundamentally yes., Of course the brain didn't change from instinctive nutcracker to calculus in one step. The key Evolution by means of Natural Selection is the selections. Various brain changes, such as better language communication, or faster recognition of friend/foe all just happened, but each little change was useful to the person who possessed the changed capability.
Most of the time when a person is born with a brain a bit different than the average it causes what we would call mental illness. But sometimes a certain degree of mental illness brings success. Many CEOs and artists have bipolar disorders of varying degrees and are very successful, often because they have unfailing confidence during their manic phase and their subordinates take charge when they are depressed. Often they go unchallenged because they seem to fly off the handle if crossed.
These days the nerds, often with some degree of autism, are doing well and having more kids. Fifty years ago they couldn't get a date and would often die childless. That is evolution in action. The characteristics of autism, perhaps muted by some change which has not yet happened, may become the new norm.
Brain changes are an accident of birth, but sometimes they can be an advantage in the environment of the day. |
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