Member-only story
The Old Brain
Modern humanity as a palimpsest
The Old Brain, three million years old, unchanged because in evolution it has existed for an eyeblink.
The Old Brain is a hunter-gatherer, it fidgets, knowing it should be seeking food and shelter, not sitting in this barren place, doing meaningless things.
The Old Brain is tribal. It needs to recognise every face it sees every day. Strangers are a threat. Seeing strangers every day keeps the Old Brain in ‘fight or flight’ mode.
The Old Brain can remember facts and figures, can use them. but it is ever groping for the stories that will give them meaning. It is not to be found.
The Old Brain sees the changing of the seasons, and wonders why it cannot move on, as it was meant to when the herds move and the plants die.
The Old Brain marks the cycle of the day, and chafes at being awakened before the sun rises, and staying awake after it has set.
The Old Brain cannot understand why at the end of the day, it is tired but it’s body is not.
The Old Brain watches the glowing box and longs for the campfire and the tales of the Elders.
The Old Brain is crammed with knowledge of things it has never seen with its’ eyes, smelled or touched, places it has never been, deeds it…
