Stories
The brain mechanisms of aggression
Motivational systems of social behavior
International Society for Research on Aggression
Behavior Genetics Association Ethics Committee
The World Wide
Runners Club
for Peace
United Nations University for Peace
Charlie Robbins, barefoot runner
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Twice I have had the privilege to discover scientific laws, although in neither case have they been recognized by the scientific establishment despite having been published in reputable scientific journals.
One law states that animals use 5% plus or minus 2% of their metabolism for their control system (brain and spinal cord). In general, there seems to be an optimal ratio for control and executor systems with 95% execution and 5% control, a ratio that may apply to social as well as biological systems.
The other law states that evolution of the brain proceeds differently for motor and sensory mechanisms than for the central integrative mechanisms, such as motivational mechanisms. Motor and sensory mechanisms evolve more rapidly and more incrementally. Motivational mechanisms evolve less, but when they do change, they tend to be replaced by completely new mechanisms.
The law of the optimal ratio of control and executor systems was described in a paper on brain size that I published with two of my students, Jon Mink and Rob Blumenschine, in 1981.
As usual with the case of scientific laws, the most interesting cases are the exceptions. Humans have a much greater than expected proportion of metabolism for control systems (20%), while domesticated animals such as cows, horses, sheep, pig and chicken all have about half of the expected proportion (from 1.6% to 3.2%). We suggested that these domesticated animals have been selected for large body size and small brain size over the course of domestication which is supported by the fact that dogs and cats, which would not be expected to have been selected in the same fashion, have the expected ratios of .04 and .06 respectively. We further suggested that the unit of evolution might have been the human plus his domesticated animals, with the human's higher proportion of control serving as the control for the animals.
Two other interesting exceptions need to be explained. The whale has a much lower percentage than expected. This could be explained by the enormous proportion of whale metabolism taken up by its insulating fat, which should not perhaps be considered as an executor system, unlike muscle. The electric fish devotes an enormous portion of its metabolism to its brain, but not in the service of a control mechanism. Instead, a portion of its brain, greatly expanded, has become used as a giant battery to shock other animals, which should be considered as executor rather than control.
Unfortunately, I have never had the time to follow up on the law of optimal control/executor systems, because I think that they may apply also to human social systems such as government and business enterprises, and to the optimal ratio of work for an individual as well. In other words, it may be that we should put about 5% of our energy into thinking what to do and 95% into actually doing it. A higher proportion in thinking may be wasteful, while a higher proportion of doing may be mis-guided.
The law of the differential evolution of "inner" and "outer" parts of the nervous system is described at the end of my paper comparing the social behavior of the rat and the monkey, published in Aggressive Behavior in 1981 and available on the internet at http://www.culture-of-peace.info/ratmonkey/title-page.html . Further development of this law, as stated in the 1981 paper, awaits "more complete data on the neural circuitry and mechanisms of behavior."
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Stages
1986-1992
Fall of Soviet Empire
1992-1997
UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme