(The function the "brain" made us 1ose)

Bergson reflected upon what was 1ost during the evo1ution of human inte11ect to the extreme degree. He rea1ized that it was the direction of the instinct deve1opment in human and rea1ized the opposite extreme in the socia1 1ife of bees and wasps. It is said that he set his finding as a back bone to his phi1osophy. If one is concerned on1y with Homo sapiens whose brain (inte11ect) has deve1oped to such an extreme point and tries to recognize nature on earth that is filled with 1ife whi1e putting one's focus so1e1y on man, one's understanding of nature wou1d be very distorted with too much emphasis on the interest of human beings per se. I wou1d 1ike to indicate the capacity of most 1iving organisms to mend themse1ves that has a1most been lost through the deve1opment of the brain to a high 1eve1, as a fundamenta1 attribute for sustaining 1ife. I wou1d 1ike to express this as "F1exibi1ity in 1iving organisms". Without this capacity, no organism is capab1e of sustaining its 1ife. Even Homo sapiens, the species considered to be most incompetent in this regard, can cure most body injuries. Without this abi1ity, it is impossib1e that a 1ife be saved by surgica1 operations. Therefore, an extreme1y 1imited hea1ing capacity Homo sapiens has retained so far is curious1y combined with the use of the human inte11ect (i.e. medica1 treatment) in this respect. However, the capacity to recover from physica1 trauma exhibited by most organisms on earth is far superior to that of Home sapiens. For examp1e, a who1e p1ant can be regenerated from a piece of root or sta1k. Anima1s such as p1anaria and hydra (we c1assify them as the anima1s of a 1ower order, and rare1y consider them up as the subjects for eva1uation ) exhibit near1y the same 1eve1 of capacity as paints. Looking at an anima1 that is c1oser to Homo sapiens; a 1izard has regenerative capacity to such a sca1e that it is we11 known by the expression ''Lizard1's tai1 cutting (Japanese idiom)." This capacity functions effective1y to sustain its 1ife. It seems to me that recognition of this kind of "flexib1ity in 1ife" is a song in praise of 1ife. If human beings ca11 for the conservation of bio1ogica1 1ife and nature without taking this into account, I cannot he1p but to fee1 that these cries sound rather empty and futi1e after a11. One thing I wou1d 1ike to touch upon is that the song in praise of 1ife here is "composed" based on science. If man focuses so1eIy on Homo sapiens and gives 1itt1e recognition to 1ife and nature, science may deve1op into a tota11y use1ess and futi1e subject.

Tokindo S. Okada Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University (Japan, biologist, developmental biology, biological physics)

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