The human brain evolved to INTERPRET reality to its own (perverted) Darwinian advantage

LINK to Guardian article, Decoding the decade, by Joe Moran

[The past has] nothing to teach us except how much more enlightened we are today.

This was the only bit in the article that I could really relate to, because it is so true. I remember believing it myself, or something very similar, for most of my life.

The human brain, I then came to realise, prevents us, not completely, but to a very large extent, from recognizing our OWN follies, because it evolved to "interpret" reality, i.e. its environment, to its own, very narrowly perceived (basically Darwinian) advantage, in a natural environment VERY different from the essentially artificial environment, of human civilization, it must deal with, i.e. interpret to its own advantage, today.

The main advantage it is programmed to look for, blinding it to other aspects of reality, or greatly distorting them, is POWER, in its multifarious forms (including money, the moral high ground, social and professional status, etc), which potentially will greatly enhance the individual's chances of survival and reproductive success.

This (the pursuit and exercise of POWER) is what prevents our political, religious and business leaders, in particular (but ourselves as well, of course, especially in the media) from forming a more realistic interpretation of our situation, and is the root cause of our mounting social, political, economic and environmental problems. It is driving us towards human and ecological catastrophe on an unimaginable scale.