Im wondering that if we are the brain why we cant control things like pain and our immune system.
In: Biology
Autonomous behavior came first. The mechanism to provide a degree of conscious control over part of your body evolved when it was of value to survival. The mechanism – the sensors and the central nervous system wiring and the brain cells to control it all cost material and energy. If there were no benefit it wouldn’t have evolved.
You get benefit from being able to hold your breath, or your pee, or your poop, presumably because you survived better if you’re running away from a predator if you don’t stop to pee. You might more successfully hide from a predator if you can hold your breath.
Everything that you have conscious control over also had to develop a default mechanism that would normally make you consciously do the things that have been done autonomously in prior versions. We call these feelings. I feel I need to pee. This more expensive wiring that has to have a return on investment. And yet more wiring to weigh the alternative conscious behaviors. Which is more important running away or peeing or mating or eating, in the particular circumstance I’m in?
I guess there was never a return on investment on the ability to hold your heartbeat.
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