hardwired................

 

Our elders tell us, "Don't judge a book by its cover."  Though well-intentioned advice, it doesn't entirely reflect the primitive parts of our brains that have had to make snap judgments for thousands of years to survive and thrive in our habitats.  We're hardwired to judge things by their covers because, in previous eras of lions, wolves, and marauding tribes, that's how our ancestors stayed alive.

     As evolved as we might seem today, this split-second context scanning and decision-making process never left us.  It's still a core part of our environmental awareness and innate survival system.  While we're not conscious of it, we prefer the world around us to be stable and predictable because it gives us a sense of control over our environment.  But deep down, we know stability isn't always possible.  So no matter where we are, we're constantly on the lookout for contextual clues and the slightest changes in our environment.

-Kevin Ervin Kelly, Irreplaceable:  How to Create Extraordinary Places That Bring People Together