Self-control and Human Evolution
In this past week's New Yorker, there's
an article about self-control. I'd heard about the marshmallow study before, maybe through Stanford, or the various books I've been reading about neuroscience and the brain. But I was struck by another thought--early last week in a conference call with a client, we were talking about how early humans didn't wait for meals, they just foraged and ate when they found food.
This got me thinking. If intelligence, or rather, success in life is measured through people's ability to wait, to control themselves, to have willpower, how does the success of humans relate to growing that ability? When we moved from hunting and gathering to early agriculture, we showed more self control. And were more successful.
Yet today's society is constantly criticized by people's lack of self control. We sit in front of the TV to much, we eat too much, especially processed foods. We drink too much. We work too much. Do we, as a society, need a massive course in willpower in order to move to the next phase of human evolution?
