The Astonishing Prefrontal Cortex – Part Six: PFC Short Takes II

By ChatGPT.

 [Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five]

The Prefrontal Cortex Comes Online: The Evolution of "I"

The human experience of self—our ability to think of ourselves as "I"—is not a static feature of the brain but an unfolding process shaped by evolution, culture, and technology. The contemporary self, with its introspection, personal narrative, and abstract identity, is the result of a long and gradual process, largely driven by the prefrontal cortex (PFC) coming online over millennia. The PFC existed long before it was fully utilized, waiting for the right environmental and cultural conditions to activate its potential. From early social cognition and dreams to art, symbolism, and finally, writing, the self has been transformed at every stage of human development.

The dorsolateral and ventromedial regions of the PFC were the first of its sub-regions to emerge, existing in early hominins at least 1-2 million years ago. However, its functions were initially limited to impulse control, decision-making, and social coordination. The PFC was not designed specifically for abstract thought, introspection, or self-narrative; instead, it was a pre-adaptive structure—an overbuilt cognitive system that would later be repurposed for higher-order functions. Just as the lungs of early fish were later adapted for breathing air, the PFC, originally a tool for survival, became the seat of human identity and introspection.

Long before humans could articulate a sense of self, they likely experienced identity as something socially mediated. Early hominins may not have carried an internalized sense of "I" in the way modern humans do. Instead, their identity existed primarily in their interactions with others—defined by social feedback, group roles, and status. A hominin’s sense of self may have been fluid and contingent, shaped entirely by how others reacted to them.

Dreams, however, introduced the possibility of an "I" independent of the group. In the dream world, early humans experienced themselves as continuous subjects, capable of action and reflection in scenarios detached from immediate reality. This may have been the earliest form of human imagination with animism likely prominently displayed—a cognitive function that would later be crucial for self-awareness, planning, and storytelling. Dreams allowed the brain to simulate experiences and, in doing so, reinforced the notion that the individual self existed beyond any given moment or social interaction. Due to their often bizarre and mysterious nature, dreams likely nourished the PFC in a powerful feedback loop.

Perhaps dreams ultimately led to the emergence of symbolic thought, particularly through art and personal adornment, fundamentally changed the nature of selfhood. Cave paintings, hand stencils, and carved figurines, dating back at least 40,000 years, marked a shift from an immediate, socially reactive self to an externalized, representational self. If a human could create a symbol of something, they could begin to conceive of themselves as something beyond their direct experience. Personal ornaments such as necklaces, ochre body paint, and tattoos reinforced identity not just within a moment but across time, embedding the self within a broader cultural framework.

Think of it. Before we were able to incorporate symbolism into our lives our sense of self was fundamentally different from our experience today. Consider what we could not do at this stage, yet we lived complete human lives. We could not attach words, or at least very many of them, to our thoughts. We could ruminate about ourselves nor were our lives “autobiographical storytelling” as they so clearly are today. The “I” was limited to social and environmental stimuli. It existed without names or explicit identity. It had no concept of past or future versions of itself, it was essentially locked into the present moment. This earliest version of "me" and "I" represents what existed before the later developments of language, art, symbolism, and writing transformed human self-awareness into something more resembling our experience of identity today.

Symbolism allowed humans to think of themselves in abstract terms, beyond their immediate roles or physical presence. This was a critical step in the PFC’s full activation—it now had to process representations, metaphors, and concepts that existed outside direct perception. Identity became something one could carry, reinforce, and alter through external symbols.

If art and adornment externalized identity, writing solidified it. Around 5,000 years ago, the ability to record thoughts in permanent symbols allowed humans to preserve and reflect upon their own identities over time. Writing transformed the self from a fleeting, social, and oral construct into something tangible, structured, and extended beyond an individual’s immediate experience. People could now record, rewrite, and manipulate their own narratives, reinforcing the introspective and continuous nature of the self.

The PFC, already stretched by the demands of symbolic thought, now had to handle entirely new forms of abstraction: contracts, laws, personal letters, philosophical treatises. The self became codified in ways that would have been impossible for early humans. This marked a significant leap in the evolution of identity, making it more stable, self-aware, and complex than ever before.

Despite these cognitive leaps, the human self may still be in its early stages of development. If the PFC took a million years to reach its current function, there is little reason to assume that it has reached its full potential. In fact, modern challenges—such as managing vast amounts of information, navigating abstract digital identities, and integrating artificial intelligence into cognitive processes—may be further reshaping the self even now. Technologies like brain-computer interfaces, AI-assisted cognition, and virtual reality may extend the self in ways that were unimaginable even a century ago.

Neurodivergence, too, may play a role in this next phase of cognitive evolution. Traits associated with autism, ADHD, and other variations of cognition may represent adaptations that push human thinking beyond traditional constraints. Just as the PFC was once an overbuilt structure waiting for the right conditions to fully activate, modern cognitive shifts may indicate that the human brain is still growing into its own capabilities.

The story of the self is the story of the prefrontal cortex coming online. For much of human history, "I" was not a stable, continuous construct but a shifting, externally reinforced phenomenon. Social interactions, dreams, and mental simulations laid the foundation, but it was the arrival of symbolism, art, and writing that turned the self into something deeply introspective, continuous, and abstract. The PFC, a pre-adaptive structure, has been stretched and repurposed over millennia, unlocking new modes of thought that were not originally selected for in early hominins.

Yet, the process is far from complete. If the past is any indication, the self will continue to evolve, shaped by new technologies, cultural shifts, and the ongoing expansion of cognitive possibility. The PFC came online long ago—but the full extent of what it can do remains an open question.

Fine Print Stuff

Times being what they are, we can't end on a note of triumph without also qualifying everything to death. So, let's temper all the optimism expressed in this series.

Be all that as it may, standing on the cusp of a brighter cognitive future thanks to neurodivergence, neuroscience, and our penchant for innovation and emergent consciousness, we must consider potential limits and boundaries. While our neural architecture may harbor untapped potential, biological constraints exist. The brain is not structurally changing to any significant degree. We are still learning to work with what we have. Distinguishing between genuine limitations and simple lack of discovery or development can be challenging. The pre-adaptive nature of our cognitive evolution suggests we should be cautious about assuming we understand these boundaries.

Ethical considerations become increasingly important as we explore new cognitive territories. The development of new cognitive capabilities could create unprecedented disparities between those who have access to cognitive enhancement technologies and those who don't. Additionally, the emergence of new forms of consciousness and collective intelligence raises questions about individual identity and autonomy (this was Dostoevsky's big beef in /Notes from Underground/).

Dostoevsky could not see that possibilities abound...the continued evolution of individual cognitive capabilities through education, technology, and intentional development practices. The emergence of hybrid forms of intelligence combining human and artificial cognitive capabilities. The development of enhanced collective intelligence through improved frameworks for collaboration and shared thinking. The discovery of entirely new cognitive modes through systematic exploration of our neural potential.

As we consider each of these, we must remember that our ancestors took over 150,000 years to begin utilizing the capabilities enabled by their PFC. This cannot be overemphasized. The application of my theory of Expansive Omni-Directionalism is helpful, indeed vital, here. For all our potential there is a great challenge ahead. Unique and pervasive psychological concerns of our youngest generations (like Gen Z) seem utterly incapable of being adequately addressed through approaches that worked well when older generations (like boomers) were young. Though emerging, new cognitive paradigms likely require time and cultural evolution to take root (witness the transgender cognitive experience). The potential for discovery is immense and yet everything is happening so quickly now. A sense of urgency seems paramount.

Let it be noted that abstract thought is probably a side-effect of our brain walking upright the way blood pressure is a side-effect of a beating heart. This suggests that our most sophisticated cognitive capabilities emerged not through direct evolutionary pressure but as fortunate accidents of anatomical development. Bipedalism never intended that a larger PFC emerge. It just unintendedly happened, the very definition of emergence. If this pattern holds, future cognitive capabilities might similarly emerge as unintended consequences of current developments in technology and culture. The history of “the 10,000-year explosion” seems to be on the side of that possibility. It would be the type of acceleration one might expect given how fast every aspect of our Being is these days.

The ongoing revolution in artificial intelligence and various neural interfaces might create conditions for new cognitive capabilities to emerge, just as the development of language and writing enabled abstract thought. However, these capabilities might be quite different from what we currently imagine. Just as early humans could not have conceived of abstract mathematics or scientific thinking, we might be unable to envision the cognitive capabilities that future developments will enable.

Mithen's model of cognitive evolution, showing how different types of intelligence gradually became integrated through language, indicates future cognitive development might involve new forms of integration - between individual and collective intelligence, between human and artificial cognition, or between currently separate domains of thought and experience.

Taking all evidence into account, we've only been at this for maybe the last 50-60 years. Perhaps for only since 2007 when the smartphone was given to us. Considered against the backdrop of 65 million years of hominid evolution or 200,000 years or even 10,000 years we are, by every measure, still in the early stages of discovering our cognitive potential. The pre-adaptive development of our neural architecture, the relatively recent emergence of abstract thought, and the accelerating pace of cognitive development (or at least the demand for such development) all point to a future rich with possibilities for human cognitive evolution.

The cognitive frontier remains wide open, inviting exploration and development. Our challenge is to approach this frontier with both boldness and wisdom, recognizing that we are still growing into the remarkable neural architecture we inherited from our evolutionary past while remaining mindful of the ethical implications of cognitive enhancement and development.

Human cognitive potential has barely begun. Just as our ancestors gradually discovered how to use their PFC for abstract thought, we stand at the threshold of discovering new ways to use our remarkable neural architecture. The future of human cognition may be far more extraordinary than we can currently imagine.

The concept of emergence represents one of the most profound insights into consciousness and cognition. Far from being a static endpoint, human consciousness exemplifies an ongoing process of development that continues to unfold in ways we are only beginning to comprehend. This principle of emergence - where complex systems and capabilities arise from the interaction of simpler components or systems - offers a powerful framework for understanding both our past development and future potential. Emergence is ubiquitous, it is happening right now, only so slowly we mistakenly believe it was a thing of the past that we are over and done with now.

We now find ourselves at an inflection point in human cognitive development. Indeed, our development may perpetually contain various inflection points. In this case, the integration of technology with human cognition creates new forms of intelligence and capability that transform our understanding of what consciousness and intelligence can be. The development of virtual reality (the metaverse is still coming), artificial intelligence and enhanced integration with human cognitive processes represents not just a technological revolution, but a fundamental shift in how intelligence itself operates and evolves.

The emergence of collective intelligence through digital networks and AI augmentation suggests we are witnessing the early stages of what may be an entirely new phase in cognitive evolution. This distributed cognition challenges our traditional notions of individual consciousness and suggests possibilities for collective understanding that transcend individual limitations.

The implications of ongoing cognitive evolution prove both profound and far-reaching. Despite its central role in human consciousness, the PFC likely possesses capabilities we have barely begun to understand or utilize. The synergistic interaction between different brain regions continues to reveal new possibilities for cognitive development, suggesting that every cultural, religious, or philosophical system developed throughout human history represents not a finished product but a milestone in a continuum.

The written word, while revolutionary in its impact, created an illusion of permanence that may actually limit our understanding of cognitive potential going forward. The assumption that ideas, once written down, become somehow fixed and eternal contradicts the very nature of emergent consciousness. Just as the agricultural revolution transformed human thought in ways that hunter-gatherer societies could never have anticipated, our current cognitive capabilities may be on the verge of transformations we can barely imagine.

The true frontier of human potential lies not in ancient wisdom or contemporary philosophy, but in the advancing fields of neuroscience and psychology. As we deepen our understanding of brain function and development, we unlock new possibilities for human consciousness and capability. The most important insights about human nature and potential have not yet been discovered - they await us in the laboratories and research centers where scientists are uncovering the mysteries of neural function and development.

The remarkable developments of our past may pale in comparison to what lies ahead. The book that will most profoundly shape human understanding is yet to be written because the knowledge it will contain is still being discovered. We find ourselves exactly where our ancestors found themselves. With the need to grow and mature further into our brains. In that sense this is nothing new. It has always been this way, at least for last 65 million years or so. Whenever our cognition evolved, our brains made it all possible with something new, usually emergent, usually involving newer regions. Until 200,000 years ago. Since then, there are no new brain regions nor significant anatomical changes. We are working today with exactly the same brain that someone had all that long ago. We can only learn to use better that which we have only recently come to use and comprehend.

While many aspects of this narrative about human cognitive evolution warrant further research and evidence, particularly regarding the specific mechanisms of early genius and the precise timeline of prefrontal cortex utilization, which are completely conjectural on my part, the framework presented here offers a compelling and useful perspective on human cognitive development. The convergence of anatomical evidence for pre-adaptive brain development, the synchronized maturation of at least three vital brain regions, and the archaeological record of human cultural evolution suggests a fascinating story of how we grew into our neural architecture, primarily via the prefrontal cortex in unique conjunction with other brain regions, old and new.

When viewed through this lens, human history takes on new meaning - not just as a sequence of cultural achievements, but as the gradual discovery of latent cognitive capabilities that existed in our brains long before we learned to use them. The power of this perspective lies in its ability to explain both the long period of relatively static human development and the subsequent acceleration of cultural and technological innovation, while suggesting that our cognitive evolution will continue, likely at an accelerated pace.

Even if future research modifies some details of this account, the core insight - that human consciousness and abstract thought emerged into a pre-existing neural architecture rather than being directly selected for - provides a valuable framework for understanding our past, our potential future, and who we are today.