Evening star., 1937-07-25
WHY NOT END ALL WORRY
BY ELIMINATING "BRAINS'
Surgery, Argues the Writer, Has Brought
the Prospect of Utopia Closer
Than Ever Before.


minor details.
Most Of us try it in an amsteurish
sort OF way every now and then.
building according to our private
wishes and preludices. But all such
schemes seem to be open to a. monot-
onously repeated-and now, thank
heavens, silly criticism. They are not
IN tune with human nature. our
friends tell us. The Russian plan Will
not work because human nature" ls
opposed TO the equal division of wealth
and there must be the incentive Of
private gain to keep folks working.
Henry Ford's ideas are open to the
same objection as Stains. The
"speed-up, ETC." are against human
nature"
The loveliest schemes have been
lunked for this reason Seemingly
nothing that anybody can devise for
the benefit Of anybody else quite fits
IN with human nature" But this
is pure nonsense. Why has nobody
except perhaps major general or a
top sergeant here and there-hit upon
the obvious answer: Abolish human
nature!
First We must find out what it is
this queer thing that is human"
that makes man so much more mlser--
able than the beasts Of the fleld-and
then get rid of it. Get rid of it cleanlv
ana ruthlessly, as We get rid OF In
fected tonslls.
We can approach the problem Of
What 1t is analytlcally from two direc-
tlons. Man like the cat and the
elephant is physical organism. We
nave here no concern for his spiritual
being, which eludes the rigorous proc
esses OF science. What is there about
MIN which is physically unique? Has
ne anything which is not possessed bv
the hlppopotamus or the rat? In fact.
as long since determined, he differs
from them only minutely and incor-
sequentally except in one particular.
He has larger brain than any other
animal IN proportion To the weight Of
his body. The greater part Of this
excessive brain size seems to be cor-
centrated Immediately behind his
forehead, in the so-called pre-frontsl
lobe of the cerebrum. So exaggerated
Is the size Of this that 1t NAV be con-
sidered as an almost unique human
organ. Only the chimpanzees, the
gorlllas, the oran-outans and some of
the monkeys make even a remote sp-
proach to human beings in this re-
spect, and they suffer under the disa-
blllty OF being almost human"
Man Insists on Restlessness.
Having located human nature or
eanicalIy 1t is simple matter TO PIN
1t down functionally. How does man
differ in his fundamental behavior
from the rhesus monkey or the rabbit,
We look for qualitative. not quaint.
tatlVe, difference. Man, it seems. never
Is willing TO let we'll enough alone. He
is always getting dissa tisfed, Worrying
over things, and trying 10 improve
them. He is always putting two and
Two together. He is ALWAYS inventing
somethlng-language. clothes, shell
ters, gunpowder, printing. airplanes.
| Hamlets, moonlight sonatas, laws o.
| graVltation, etc. No rabbit. hardly n
chimpan1ee even, ever invented sny.
thing. The rabbit, the rat, the whale.
the dog take the world as they find it.
They have no capacity for imagining
any way in which it could be improved.
NO rabbit has fundamentally different
ideas from all other rabbits. No rab-
DIT worries over the coming Winter and
then proceeds to discover fire and in
vent furnace to circumvent the
| discomfort.
This, OF course, is precisely the thing
which stands in the way of Utoplas.
They don't work very long because
one mans desires differ from those ~
another man and he is forever going
out Of bounds to realize his desires
Do what you will for him, he ts
never satisfied, never grateful. Give
him wlne-he wants whisky and pro-
ceeds to invent it. Give him wool
ne wants silk and proceeds to get It.
A substantial Utopia requires that
all the bricks be of essentially the
same shape. Only tumbledovn
structure can be erected with all
shapes. sizes and kinds of stones-re-
gardless OF the skill of the architect.
Aeons ago this difficulty was recog-
nlzed IN another branch of animal life
that OF the ants and the bees. Thev
| overcame it and proceeded to build
substantial and permanent Utoplas
which have persisted longer than the
human race has been in existence,
Carving Worry Away.
Now it can be established that these
uniquely human functional characters
and the uniquely human physical
front of the brain" are closely cor
related. Cut out the latter and
worries and dlssatisfactions disappear
to a considerable extent. The best
| technique up to the present has not
succeeded in eliminating them en-
tirely and very likely it is too late In
evolutionary progress to save the
human race altogether, The enar-
chistiG frontal lobe cells seem to have
metastasized into other parts Of the
brain. With worry and dissatisfaction
| bLon ppt hLNV W n NIKE extent 1Fe
capacity to create something new
the much footed ability of BrovnlI,e's
| Abt Volger "out of three sounds tn
make not fourth sound, but star"
| And this Is exactly what we must be
rid of If We are to have Utopias Of any
sort.
Back in the dim beginnings OF time
minute-probably invisibly minute
living things came into being somehow
out OF the sea slime. Each was its
own master, pursuing its own uay in
| the steamy world. BY and by they
began to combine into group organ
isms, each sacrificing most of its in
dividuality. Eventually the individuals
were lost sight of altogether and the
group was the unit of life-the trilo-
bite, the cephalopod. the dinosaur, the
mammoth, man. Each was a. proup
organism Of billions of once individual
animals which now fitted perfectly