The Tell-Tale Brain

In the Introduction, Ramachandran explores the modern history of perspectives on human uniqueness. He starts this journey with intellectuals roughly spanning the Victorian and Edwardian eras (1815-1914), including Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, and Richard Owen. These intellectuals debated whether humans were truly unique compared with other primates.

Darwin was the first to propose that humans and apes had a common ancestor. He also believed that human mental abilities evolved from the same kind of traits seen in other apes. Owen, who founded the science of comparative anatomy, believed humans were unique. He disagreed with Darwin, pointing out the large gap between the mental abilities of humans and apes. Owen believed humans had a unique anatomical structure called the hippocampus minor. Huxley, who was a friend of Darwin, vehemently argued against Owen’s theory.

Modern studies of the human brain disprove Owen’s hippocampus minor theory. However, Ramachandran believes he was right to suggest the human brain is “something unique, something unprecedented, something transcendent” (4). In contrast to apes, humans write, create, investigate, and self-reflect. Self-reflection is especially important to Ramachandran and represents the greatest mystery of all.

Ramachandran suggests that our hominin ancestors provide clues to human uniqueness. As one example, Neanderthals were close to achieving human uniqueness.