Its something I’ve been thinking about for a while, while depression is not a recent phenomenon it is something that has seen a staggering rise in recent years, among all age groups. Perhaps it is a natural product of our evolution. In previous centuries humanity was heavily orientated around physical labor, be it farming, construction or whatever. In those times i believe physical illnesses were higher, naturally i believe the heavy basses of the hole physicality of the time bread those physical issues. I think humanity has reached its point in the evolutionary chain where our physical self has evolved to close to its end stage, where it wont evolve naturally beyond this point, or at least if it does science will be the cause. But in recent times there has been a shift in humanity’s focus from the physical labor to more “intellectual” labors like Lawyers, IT, Stock markets and all that shit. As we expand and distance ourselfs from the more physical, in favor of machines and the like we focus more on the brain, on not using our hands to make money but on our ability to think, to use our brains instead of our bodies. Perhaps as we use our brains more, they grow and evolve from generation to generation and just like our bodies as the brain evolves problems arise. as we rely on them more and more they grow and change, maybe depression is just one of those changes. maybe as the human brain evolves towards its pinnacle of evolution it will work out the kink that is depression, maybe future generations will read about depression in books the same way we read about polio or the black plague. Depression may just be a natural byproduct of the human condition. To me that is a comforting thought. the fact depression is natural and as the human brain evolves depression will eventually be nothing but history, probably not in my lifetime but it is still an exciting thought to me none the less. I am curious as well, in the past humanity was physical labor orientated, now it is intellectually orientated I wonder what happens after the brain has evolved, what do we turn to to perfect after that, or does humanity just fade away?
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That’s a great way to think of it Procel. Maybe depression is just a momentary hiccup in the big scheme, an evolutionary detour like our appendix or wisdom teeth that will eventually get phased out. Or more likely (if evolution makes any sense at all) it might lead us into the next big leap forward.
Think of the first little tadpole/fish thingy that crawled out of the ocean millions of years ago. Why? Maybe because it didn’t like the ocean and was dissatisfied or “depressed” with its environment. So it crawled out, probably had a crappy painful life adapting, but its actions spawned generations who were each a little better suited to survive on land. And that’s how we ended up with humans who, themselves, are getting overwhelmingly dissatisfied and in need of a change. Whatever that is.
Really, that’s a nice thought. Too bad none of us will be around to see what comes next.
Very insightful, interesting stuff. And it makes sense when one thinks about it.
Though depression has always been present throughout all ages, it may very well be more prevalent in modern times because, as you’ve pointed out, there’s much more ‘thought’ work currently. I’m not saying people long ago didn’t have time to think, plan, or reflect, however; we have much more time to think and worry about things now, some of which things involve stuff people long ago never had to ponder. But even if we evolve and perfect the woes of depression, I still believe there will be things we can continue to work towards physically or mentally. A changing environment might bring new tasks. Mental defects aside from depression might continue on within us, how might anxiety levels look in a depression-less society?
Somethings will always be able to be improved.
I don’t think that our brains are evolving that fast. It could be a good theory when it comes to depression and I don’t made a research about suicide in the old days, but I do think that a brain from the XV century would be capable to learn and cope in the modern days as well.
We think that our brains are a blank state, but I think it’s far from that, we still have a lot of instincts working everyday for us, even if we don’t realize it.
There is this article about this and here is the link if you are interested on it.
http://www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html
We’ve only lived in the modern age for a few centuries, I would say decades, but the human race has been living in a primitive way for thousand of years, I don’t think that our minds are prepared for this sudden change.
“Our modern skulls house a stone age mind.”
@Salt i like that outlook, about the tadpole being depressed and coming onto land, you took an idea i was thinking about, with regards to the future and applied it to everything, i like it. gives food for thought. I had been thinking, if you believe in this sort of thing, that we are three basic things. mind, body, soul. while you cant prove the soul exists you cant prove it dosnt. I was toying with the idea after our mind became evolved that we would focus on the soul in some manner until maybe humans become unrecognizable, transcend this plane or something. Perhaps depression is evolution’s way of telling us its time to go further on our journey. I like that spin. I remember you from when you first arrived here, I wish i made the effort to get to know you back then, you are a very smart person, ill be keeping an eye out for your work 🙂
@the Distress, you raise an interesting point, with regards to other mental defects, i think the brain is much like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it becomes, i think as it evolves it will learn to overcome anxiety, or at the least society will change to mitigate such things. I remember reading somewhere (probably facebook) that a recent study found that anxiety levels of highschool children now are the same as patients of an insane asylum in the 1900’s. everything that goes up must come down right? as the levels rise, they have to peak and go down again, i do believe while some issues may remain as we evolve the major ones will be worked out, ore we could simply evolve, seeing as @salt said we came from the sea onto land, im going to be dissapointed if the next evolution dosnt involve flying 😉
@WSiff first off, thanks for the link, ill get to that tomorrow, its late here and i want to try and get to bed before the sun comes up at least once this week. Also, if im not mistaken you are a farely new user? i hope your settling in ok. I think ffor the most part you may be right, about XV century people would be able to cope in moderen day, however i dont think they would be able to thrive, while we have alot of things dummed down in every day life, a phone that does everything, automated machines etc. i still think the sheer technological age would baffle their mind (maybe some of the most gifted would thrive ill grant you that) but i think case and point for this is trying to explane how to use a computer to either a parent or grandparent, anything beyond the basics and it might as well be alien. While we are close to the stone age, primitive brain we are still advanced to such a level as we may as well be a different race alltogether
Haha I agree, we better have wings next time around or I’ll demand my money back! I’ve been thinking a lot about the soul recently, and like you said, nobody can prove that it doesn’t exist. To me, the soul is consciousness. Our brains consist of millions of nerves & cells, but like a computer which also has millions of connections, it requires something more to make in conscious. We take that consciousness for granted because we assume it’s part of our brain (and it is, mostly), but it takes more than just nerves & connections for something to become self aware. Is that where the soul comes in? Maybe. I guess like you said, the next step of evolution should be for us to come to an understanding of what that is.
Back to the subject of depression, I think depression accomplishes one major thing: it makes people think. When we’re happy we tend to live without questioning anything, without hardly thinking. But depression forces us to question everything, to search for an escape. So I guess the more I think about it, depression/dissatisfaction is the best thing that ever happened to the human race haha.
@salt i was going to reply yesterday but i got cought up reading all your old posts, you are an interesting fellow, tho i wanted to kick your ass at least once. Prehaps the soul is indeed the spark that gives us self awareness, it is something that should be more researched, i mean with all the amazing inventions humanity has you would think we could build something to see the soul, just imagine if people who invented atomic bombs and all that had been focused on the psyche and everything.
haha i think in a way you may have a point about depression being the best thing to happen to humanity, tho i dont think you took it far enough, depressed and suicidal people are therefore the best of humanity and will be responsible for every forward (positive step humanity takes) we are not only the future of humanity we are necessary to its very evolvment 🙂 damn we some awesome people!! haha
LOL I’m always up for a good ass kickin. It reminds me I’m alive. I think.
“depressed and suicidal people are therefore the best of humanity and will be responsible for every forward (positive step humanity takes)”
To be honest I flip back & forth every minute of the day on that. Like yesterday I was all gung ho about how depression is the best thing in the universe (wtf was I thinking?!) and now I’m realizing that depression/suicide, like any fatal disease, is evolution’s way of taking out the trash. What the eff sort of evolution would be advanced by a mutation that kills itself the first chance it gets its hands on a gun lol.
Unless…! (here’s another flip) maybe the logical, advanced, enlightened destiny of evolution is self-annihilation? And with each person who whacks himself, our species is getting closer to that divine end? What a day…
It undoubtedly has epigenetic effects. Evolution doesn’t have an end-game, though, aside from the constant possibility of extinction. If your species has living cells, a changing environment, and DNA, your species is going to keep evolving.
Evolution is based primarily on the notion that the fittest survive and if that’s the case and there is a correlation between evolution and suicide we shouldn’t exist. Evolution leans toward a natural progression of a species as most creatures are trying to avoid death. In theory humans should be less suicidal now unless we have simply been unable to keep up with changing times. The social pressure on children these days is huge as is the financial burden on adults. Perhaps the question bears greater relevance when considering the individual causes of suicide.
It has been spectulated that in future ,humans skulls will become big in size and the human body will become small in size because in future humans will need only their brains to work and their physical abilities will not be of use much.
Hello Procel it’s good to see you.
People have been committing suicide for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is not a new phenomenon. It is arguable that suicide rates have increased in recent times and I’d attribute that to social evolution. It’s also plausible that suicides were not reported in the way they are now. We only know about historical figures who took their won lives.
You are correct in identifying the modern challenges we now face and the more important factor in recent times is the deteriorating influence religion has had and social acceptability.
In terms of biological evolution it’s difficult to assess how the development of our brains over hundreds of years has affected our desire to commit suicide. The changes in our environment take place gradually and unlike the dinosaurs has been instigated by humans. Perhaps it is all happening too fast but this may also indicate that we are far from the finished article.
A modern factor that cannot be overlooked is pharmacology but such drugs have only been around for decades and not any length of time that would suggest a longer term impact.
There is a lot more to consider on the topic.