Culture (Part 1)
Chapter from “Culture Is Not Your Friend: Sex, Death, Drugs & Madness”.
“We are caged by our cultural programming. Culture is a mass hallucination, and when you step outside the mass hallucination you see it for what it’s worth.” – Terence McKenna
Culture: Operating System Or Virus?
Terence McKenna once compared culture to the operating system of a computer. The functions of your culture would depend on the OS you were running. One OS may support shamanism, while another supports psychiatry. One OS may support plural marriage, yet another monogamy.
But is this operating system really necessary? Or is there a more basic model that we can all get behind?
Or, maybe culture is not really your operating system, but a clever virus disguising itself as such, very persuasively stating that “you need me to function”. But is that really true?
What is culture? And who would you be without it?
Your Basic OS
Did you know that humans have three brains, and not just one?
No, I am not referring to the bit between your legs that does all the thinking for you. Or your stomach. But the actual brain itself, which has three distinct parts. You see, your brain is actually a 3-in-1 package deal.
1. The Reptilian brain: The R-complex (the centre of the brain)
2. The Mammalian brain: The limbic system
3. The Primate brain: The neocortex
So how do these three brains operate?
The reptilian brain is the oldest part of the brain. It is mostly concerned with survival, both of the self and of the species. Share on X It controls our hunger, sex drive, aggression, our need to stay safe and defend our territory, our automatic responses like ‘fight or flight’, temperature, heart rate and breathing.
The mammalian brain deals with emotions, memory, learning, motivation and the processing of social information. It regulates your hormones and manages your reward and pleasure seeking behaviours.
The primate brain is the newest part of the brain. Higher functions such as language, decision making, planning, logic, intelligence, judgement and imagination belong here.
This is the basic operating system of the human mind, before culture is added, and our most basic functions are survival, empathy and logic.
Slaves To The Reptile Brain
If we already come with all these great functions pre-installed, why do we need culture? Why do we require an endless laundry list of incompatible or contradictory rules?
Ask the reptile brain. Despite what you may think that guy is still in charge, getting the other two – the mammal and the primate to do his bidding. Even in this supposedly enlightened era the reptile is still King.
Here is one example to illustrate the problem:
Male Reptile impulse: Must procreate!
- Immediate problem: Must have access to females and ward off competition.
- Long term problem: Paternity is uncertain, or offspring do not survive.
Mammal brain to the rescue:
- Solution: Form emotional bond with the female to ward off competition from other males. Stay close to defend the offspring and provide them with resources. Produces less offspring, but with a greater chance of survival.
- Immediate problem: Competition from other males. Providing enough resources.
- Long term problem: Other males succeed in mating with female, leading to uncertain paternity. Not willing to spend scarce resources on another male’s offspring.
Primate brain solution:
- Use intellect and imagination to control female sexual behaviour and ensure paternity. Invoke God, the ultimate authority, that cannot be questioned (primarily because no one can find the bastard) and say that God has decided that a woman should remain a virgin until marriage, and faithful to the male after marriage.
- Say that no man wants a ‘loose woman’, which the female will recognise as a threat of social exclusion, which may reduce her chances of survival and that of her offspring.
- If this attempt at hacking the female brain is unsuccessful, revert to the reptile tactic of aggressive domination.
As you can see, the reptilian brain does have an important function, which is to ensure the continuation of the species.
However, it is not meant to be in charge, and it is no basis for a thriving culture as the reptilian emphasis on survival may actually harm our chances of survival. Where do you think the impulse for wars come from? From the reptile and its need to fight over resources.
We may tell ourselves that we are only doing it to help people, that we want to deliver them from oppressive regimes, or that we are waging war for the glory of God. Neither of which is true. These are just excuses.
What we need to do is reverse the order of operations. Put the primate in charge, make the mammal its lieutenant and the reptile its servant.
A more cooperative and accepting world is possible with the mammalian brain, and a well run world, where all our needs are taken care of can be created using the imagination of the primate brain.
But as long as we allow the reptile to remain in charge, we will continue to fight each other and sow the seeds of our own destruction.
© Merlyn Gabriel Miller
