Sapolsky says it’s remarkable what our emotions can do to us, physiologically, compared to other species: We’ve got the same building blocks, but we use them in ways that are unprecedented. And let me give you an example of that: Okay, so you’ve got two humans, and they’re taking part in a human ritual. They’re sitting there silently, making no eye contact. They’re still. Except every now and then, one of them does nothing more taxing than lifting an arm and pushing a little piece of wood. And if it’s the right wood, and the right chess grandmasters in a tournament, they are going through six
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