There’s a long, wandering nerve in the body called the vagus (means “wandering”). It goes to the heart. It goes to the stomach. It goes to the face. It goes to the larynx (voice box).
It has two main branches.
One is covered with myelin. Insulated, it conducts faster.
One is not covered with myelin. It’s older. Reptiles have it. It’s the slower part of the nerve.
The fast part of the nerve goes to your face and voice box. It helps you to attract attention. Make expressions with your face and sounds with your voice, other people come running. Useful in an emergency.
The slow part goes to the heart, and other places, to start up your internal emergency system. Fight or flight. Fast heart rate, high blood flow to the arms and legs. Also useful in an emergency. But uses up a lot of energy.
Because the slow branch of the vagus uses so much energy we have evolved from reptiles, and developed this faster system of signalling to others for help. Energy-efficient survival.
But it only works if we’re willing to trust others.
I was following a car that was going slower than I wanted to go – he was a little under the speed limit – and so I passed him. He accelerated as I passed but I completed my pass safely. Then he came right up behind me, passed me, and zoomed up the road.
I found that I was shaking. Adrenaline. My amygdala was activated. I was prepared for conflict. When he passed I wasn’t sure that he wasn’t also going to pull in front of me and brake suddenly.
You may have had a similar experience. It happens to me a lot (is it me?). Once, I passed a guy in a pickup truck (never argue with people who drive pickup trucks) and then he passed me and abruptly slowed, blocking my path. I pulled onto the shoulder and waited for him to go away.
Tamara Lich has been organizing far-right protests since 2018. She was arrested in 2022 and convicted of mischief for her role in leading the “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa.
She posted on X that she no longer feels safe, respected or free, [1]. I don’t use X anymore, but her message was echoed on Instagram, and when I read it, I responded that I did not have a lot of sympathy for someone who went out of her way to make others feel unsafe.
And of course I was attacked.
It made me think of the good people on the highway.
I felt the same amygdalar reaction from people calling me vulgar names on social media as I did from the people (trying to kill me?) on the highway.
You may think that I am overreacting. I am. That’s the point.
We have forgotten how to play with others. Anyone who dissents has become an enemy. I have my way of looking at the world, and if you disagree, then I have nothing to do with you. You are my enemy.
Which means that I am on my own. I have to use my own devices for survival. The “slow” branch of my vagus. Fight or flight. No facial signs of distress or calls for help allowed. No cooperation.
There used to be a TV network in the U.S. called PBS. They had a song about cooperation.
That network has been dismantled. It’s every man for himself.
Mostly men, have you noticed? They want to roll back women’s rights. Probably because women would favour cooperation.
We have been developing this myth, especially in North America, that we can each live independently. We don’t need other people.
Others have been sounding the alarm bell on this. “Hey, we’re mammals, not reptiles. It costs less energy to cooperate.” PBS. Notable neurophysiologists[2].
Cooperating means sharing my energy. If I can’t see the longterm benefits, I might be disinclined.
And now there is all this doom and gloom about climate change. Recently a pandemic. And now perhaps an alien visitor traversing the solar system.
But that’s okay. I can solve all these problems by myself. Without you.
Maybe not.
[1] https://x.com/LichTamara/status/1952736918963167718
[2] Darcia Narvaez (2014). Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture, and Wisdom. New York: W. W. Norton