Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes

by Nathan H. Lents

the powerful human brain—is filled with defects that lead individuals to make extremely poor choices in their daily lives, sometimes at the expense of their very existence.

People who sit upright with little movement for long periods strain these mesenteries, which can then tear, requiring surgery.

Further, chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans, contain large quantities of all nine essential amino acids all by themselves, as do quinoa and a few other so-called superfoods.

During a famine, it’s not the lack of calories that is the ultimate cause of death; it’s the lack of proteins and the essential amino acids they provide.

Amino acids are not the only basic biomolecules that humans and other animals have lost the ability to synthesize.

Yet one of the two fatty acids that we cannot produce (both of which have tongue-twister names) is linoleic acid, which forms part of the cell membrane. The other one, alpha-linolenic acid, is used to help regulate inflammation, another hugely important internal process.

modern human diets have provided these two essential

fatty acids in sufficient quantities in the form of seeds, fish, and v...

Our cells can synthesize a whole host of lipid molecules, many

of

them quite a bit more complex than linoleic acid and alp...

The enzymes necessary to produce these particular fatty acids exist in many organisms on earth, but humans aren’t one of them.

Human psychology is no match for human physiology.

Why is concealed ovulation peculiar to Homo sapiens? There may be adaptive purposes for the concealment; if a man cannot be sure when a woman is ovulating, he cannot be certain that a child is his own unless he sticks with one female constantly.

In other words, human bodies and brains have not changed much in the past twelve thousand years. This is a kind way of saying that we are not adapted to this life. We are adapted to Pleistocene life. And perhaps nowhere is this clearer than in the way we perceive the world around us.

What does make cognitive biases qualify as defects is that they are not the result of an overtaxed system; they are patterns of mistakes that are made over and over again.

(This research reflects another fact about confirmation bias: it pervades our political climate, which is why no one has ever changed his or her mind on an issue because of an argument on Facebook.)

large data sets are simply collections of individual anecdotes—but

The reason that anecdotes are so much more powerful than data is once again that our minds are trapped in the world of finite math and small numbers.

Because early human societies were never larger than a couple hundred individuals, there was no need to understand mathematical conceptualizations larger than that. Therefore, that skill simply didn’t evolve.

Young adult males are the most dangerous demographic of the population, and the reason for that is even stupider than the risky behaviors themselves:

Third, brains are extremely energy-hungry and thus place intense demands on organisms to acquire enough calories to support them. For example, the human brain consumes about 20 percent of the body’s daily energy expenditures,

So the next time you praise someone’s intelligence, stop to think about what—or, rather, who—had to be sacrificed in order for her to get that smart.

Cultural evolution refers to the social practices, knowledge, and even languages that are passed on through the generations.

Once modern humans began sharpening rocks, building dwellings, and, eventually, planting crops, they began to succeed or fail based on cultural features rather than biological ones.

Human beings are on a collision course with our own industrialization.

We ourselves are tantalizingly close to unlocking the secrets of space travel, harnessing endless energy from the sun, and keeping our bodies healthy indefinitely, but we also may be just as close to catastrophic collapse.