If I Only Had a Brain!
My latest edition of Vanderbilt magazine just arrived. (Yes, I know it's hard to imagine I managed to graduate from Vandy, but God's grace works miracles!) As usual, I turned quickly to the Science section. I always find amusement there somehow.
On page 22, an article titled "Brain Food" appears. It details the research of Suzana Herculano-Houzel, associate professor of psychology and biological sciences. Others were engaged in the research, but Professor Houzel is the primary author.
Anyway, Professor Houzel has been busy studying. Using her brain. Her brain that's not exceptional.
I mean no personal insult or injury to her! This is her own assertion! Not mine. While she admits the human brain is "unparalleled in the animal kingdom" this in no way makes it exceptional, she claims. In her way of thinking, our brain is just a primate brain. On steroids. The major difference in human brains and brains of various primates is merely the number of cortical neurons. 16 billion in humans, compared to 9 billion in gorillas and 7 billion in chimps.
Ho-hum. Makes us humans seem so insignificant. So very ordinary. But please note that apparently those extra 7 billion neurons make quite a difference. I'm not aware of any gorillas doing research on their own brains! And then publishing scientific journals on their findings!
Professor Houzel claims to know why our brains are bigger and better, too. Her answer?
Cooking.
That's right. You read it correctly. Somehow, she posits, in our primate past, we learned how to slice, dice and boil. That singular skill gave our mostly-monkey-soon-to-be-almost-human ancestors vastly more nutrition. A cooked carrot, for example, is far more easily digested and nutrients extracted than if we eat said carrot raw. The increased nutrition caused our brains to grow. And voila! Here we all are, some of us with titles like "Professor of Biological Sciences."
Now, let me get this straight. Even though we had monkey brains, in that state of monkey-headedness we somehow figured out how to cut up, smash, whip, stir and prepare food, build a fire, find cooking utensils that conducted heat, and fry that piece of fish?
But how did we figure that out if our brains were still only firing a mere 7-9 billion neurons? Present day gorillas are still firing 9 billion neurons, but for some reason known only to Darwin, not a single one of them knows how to cook! Oh, if only naturalistic evolutionists could find that colony of baboons tucked away in the jungle that is conducting cooking classes!
Pardon me, Professor Houzel. I mean no personal offense. But this hypothesis is fit for only monkeys. How is it that we humans can be so smart and so stupid all at the same time?
Our Creator God answers:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures (Rom 1:18-23).
Professor Houzel has the same problem we all have. A spiritual deadness and dumbness that blinds us to God's truth and reality. Here's praying that God reaches down to her and transforms her mind, gives her a new heart, and turns her gaze upward to the Christ of Calvary who came and died for the sins of humans. Not glorified monkeys.
To which of the primates has God said:
Come now and let us reason together says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool (Isa 1:18).
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them. Male and female He created them (Gen 1:27).
by Keith McWhorter