Sheldon Cooper

17/07/12 14:54 [Tuesday]

So one of the features distinguishing human kind from the brute animal is the ability to suspend judgment which is to say steel oneself to bear negative experience - even holding one’s hand in a flame (an example I often come up with) - for the sake of gathering information useful in the longer term. My understanding is that this feature depends on dopamine through the mechanism of bringing into action the frontal brain which can overall direct the brain and specifically can ‘disconnect’ the pathways which ordinarily lead from negative experience on to withdrawal or on to some vigorous action along the lines of fighting back. My view too is that higher levels of dopamine bring into action more the frontal brain and that higher levels of dopamine arise in schizophrenia not as a constant factor but if the necessary stimulation impinges, because of over-responsivity in schizophrenia of dopaminergic neural systems. Thus the schizophrenic - and it is certainly so in the catatonic type - holds himself aloof and puts up with all sorts of experience (including, often, negative experience) without exposing any immediate response, or indeed any response in any sensible timescale.

Mankind is bivalent on this subject. Suspending judgment and also holding oneself aloof in the midst of negative experience are regarded as praiseworthy, but to tell the truth, only up to a certain degree. And in the context of evolution, what good is it to do nothing but gather information for the longer term, when what those which persist should be doing is enjoying life through eating good food and procreating children?

I think the answer to why those who are religious maniacs or similar - including Sheldon Coopers who never eat good food and never procreate children - why they persist is that when they come into being they are cossetted by the powers that be who can see that it is useful for the longrun of the race for these people to gather information - that is to research - on behalf of the body politic. I must say the TV programme Big Bang Theory does a good job through Sheldon Cooper of showing up the relationship between lunacy and genius and reminds us of Isaac Newton, Paul Dirac and many another.