"The evolution of the brain not only overshot the needs of prehistoric man, it is the only example of evolution providing a species with an organ which it does not know how to use."
— Arthur Koestler
The Evolution Of The Brain Not
The evolution of the brain not only overshot the needs of prehistoric man, it is the only example of evolution providing a species with an organ which it does not know how to use.
About this quote
From The Ghost in the Machine (1967), Koestler's philosophical study of why human intelligence has failed to prevent war and self-destruction. His central argument is that the neocortex — the rational, analytical brain — developed so rapidly in evolutionary terms that it was never properly integrated with the older, emotion-driven structures beneath it. This mismatch, Koestler believed, explains humanity's capacity for abstract ideology paired with tribal violence: a species whose intelligence outran its wisdom.
Source
The Ghost in the Machine, 1967