Unlike other species, humans are born with "half-baked" brains that wire themselves based on the culture, language, and knowledge accumulated by all previous generations. This cumulative learning, not just individual experience, is the key to our rapid advancement as a species.

The brain doesn't strive for objective, verbatim recall. Instead, it constantly updates and modifies memories, infusing them with emotional context and takeaways. This process isn't a bug; its purpose is to create useful models to guide future decisions and ensure survival.

The cultural practice of reading physically alters the brain. Literacy leads to a thicker corpus callosum (the highway between brain hemispheres), creates specialized neural circuits, and even changes how the brain processes spoken language. This shows how cultural technologies directly shape our neurobiology on an individual level.

Reading is not an innate human ability. The process of learning to read physically rewires the brain, forging new connections between regions not originally designed to work together. This reconfigured brain becomes capable of generating and comprehending far more sophisticated ideas than one shaped only by oral culture.

Technology doesn't change the brain's fundamental mechanism for memory. Instead, it acts as an external tool that allows us to strategically choose what to remember, freeing up limited attentional resources. We've simply offloaded rote memorization (like phone numbers) to focus our mental bandwidth elsewhere.

Unlike other species which rely on pre-programmed instinct, humans' primary evolutionary advantage is culture: the ability to pass down complex, accumulated knowledge across generations. This makes cultural identity a core survival mechanism, which is why people will instinctively fight and die to defend it.

The tragic Franklin expedition, whose crew perished in the Arctic despite being well-equipped, demonstrates that raw intelligence is insufficient for survival. In contrast, the local Inuit thrived by using a vast body of cumulative cultural knowledge. Our species' primary advantage is our ability to learn from others.

Studies of London cab drivers show their brains physically grow to accommodate vast spatial knowledge. In contrast, people who consistently use GPS offload this function, which can lead to the corresponding part of their brain atrophying.

Just as a blind person's visual cortex is repurposed for heightened hearing and touch, savantism might be an extreme case of this principle. An individual may develop superhuman skills by allocating a disproportionate amount of neural resources to one area, often at the cost of others like social skills.