Left in the Dark Free Edition 1st January 2012 ‘Left in the Dark’ outlines a radical yet simple diagnosis of the human condition and brings with it the possibility of a relatively easy human scale solution. By drawing mainstream attention to the basic proposal it is hoped that it will require immediate dismissal based on evidence or lack thereof. Or alternatively it will initiate a chain reaction requiring the immediate treatment and prevention of what would inevitably be the underlying cause of our species wide insanity. Please network and email this pdf to as many people as possible or upload on your web site or post on forums etc. A 3rd revised edition is currently being planned in the meantime for additional material including easier to follow explanations more detail and clearer context visit www.leftinthedark.org.uk and www.beyond-belief.org.uk If you enjoy reading ‘Left in the Dark’ or feel the questions raised are at least worth addressing and would like to support that objective please consider the following. Buying a printed copy for yourself or a friend, link to book page here. Making a donation towards the costs of raising awareness of what shaping up to be the most important re-discovery of our time, link to support page here. Several media related projects are currently being developed that will require significant resources. Also adding a comment or brief review on one of Amazon’s ‘Left in the Dark’ pages would be most helpful, Amazon links on this page. Does this all seem a little far-fetched? Well despite the staggering implications initial broad-spectrum support from academics and scholars to general readers suggests the basic proposal requires urgent consideration. A matter of opinion or a matter of fact? A most perplexing conundrum indeed, you can of course make up your own mind… Recent reaction from a broad spectrum of eminent academics and ‘experts’, they have all by degrees signed up for the basic proposal. Humanity is suffering from the effects of species wide brain damage. The implications are mind-blowing, if it is correct it is easily the most important discovery in recorded history as it impinges on absolutely everything we think or do. The information needs bringing to the widest audience ASAP as a first step towards treatment and prevention. “A truly amazing book” Prof. Robert Greenway (SSU) “ A revolutionary view of human evolution” Dr Michael Winkleman (ASU) “A stunningly innovative and challenging theory” Dr Dennis McKenna (Heffter Research Institute) “It adds a whole new dimension to the task of defining 'normal' behaviour.” Tim Smit (The Eden Project) “It is an enlightening read that is timely” Peter Bennett (ex Police Superintendent, founder ReHealth) “ It will be, it must be, taken very seriously in any discussion of human origins.” Prof. Colin Groves (ANU) “This courageous book deserves careful critical attention.” Prof. Ashok Gangadean (Global Dialogue Institute) “Left in the Dark offers a provocative and original answer to the most important question of our time.” Linda Buzzell-Saltzman (IAE) “This is a startling book that makes us rethink the most fundamental issues of religion, psychology, and philosophy.” Richard Heinberg (Post Carbon Institute) “WOW That is a wonderful article. Unless we do something radical it is bye bye” Prof. Michael A. Crawford. PhD, CBiol, FIBiol, Director of the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition. “Many thanks for your fascinating article. I have ordered two copies of Left in the Dark; I hope it is the same material in more detail.” Stanislav Grof M.D., Ph.D. Founding president of the International Transpersonal Association. “Very interesting! Many thanks” Martin Rees. Baron Rees of Ludlow. President of the Royal Society. "Thanks for sending this. This is an area that I know way too little about (flavonoids, and the larger subject of dietary interactions with neurochemistry and neuroendocrinology); But from my uneducated take on all of this ,it sure makes sense that we are paying a neuropathological price for how unnatural our diet is." Dr. Robert M Sapolsky Currently professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and by courtesy, Neurosurgery, at Stanford University. "How absolutely fascinating. I am going to read more of what you have to say and think about it. Thank you so much for getting in touch. Regards and thanks, Lesley." Lesley Rogers Emeritus Professor U.N.E. Neurobiologist: Her particular research interests include the structural and functional lateralisation in the brain and the effects of early experience and hormones on brain development. "Just wanted to say I am half way through your book reading it most carefully and with the greatest pleasure. It reflects many thoughts I have had myself, plus adds an enormous amount of extremely interesting information. Thank you for writing such a great manuscript." Amanda Feilding Lady Neidpath Director of The Beckley Foundation. “You provide some interesting observations, and theories. Your ideas are complex, and appreciated. I need to re-visit them to be sure I clearly understand. But I am open to any ideas or thoughts about cerebral dominance since it seems critical to savant syndrome. I've come more and more to the conclusion that rather than there being right hemisphere compensation, there is rather release from the 'tyranny' of the left hemisphere. Your ideas about the right hemisphere actually being the more dominant one (at least potentially) set me to thinking that through more completely. Your thoughts that rather than evolving, we may actually be regressing are interesting ones also. Anyway, I have your thoughts now in e mail form. They are complex (at least to me) so I need to let the percolate among my own synapses now. Thanks for sharing them. I'll be back in touch.” Darold A. Treffert M.D. Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison Reaction from general readers follows a similar pattern, i.e. ‘mind blowing’ ‘self evident’ etc scroll down this page for selection of comments. Left in the Dark (The Biological Origins of the Fall From Grace) An investigation into the evolution of the human brain. A journey to the edge of the human mind. By Graham Gynn and Tony Wright iii Left in the Dark First edition Lulu Books 2007 Second revised edition Kaleidos Press 2008 Copyright © G. Gynn & T. Wright 2007 & 2008 ISBN 978-0-9556784-0-0 Cover S. Gynn & T. Wright Line illustrations L. Clifford Diagrams S. Charter & T. Wright www.leftinthedark.org.uk iv Acknowledgements and Dedications I would like to dedicate my work here to the memory of Gordon Gynn - father, journalist and Cornishman. Graham Gynn May 2007 It would take several pages to list everyone who has contributed in one way or another to the research that has resulted in the publication of this book. For this reason I will simply say thanks to all those who have helped over the last 16 years. In loving memory of Grace (Granny) Rippingle. For Corriene, Lexi and Jago. Tony Wright May 2007 v Legal Note The theory and combined techniques outlined in this book are the subject of ongoing research and are not intended as medical advice. Deciding to adopt any of the approaches discussed may in some cases be detrimental; any such decision to do so is made entirely at your own discretion. vi Contents ∼ψ∼ Foreword Introduction The Golden Age ~ The Fall of Mankind ~ Two Perspectives. Chapter One: Two Sides to Everything The Double Brain ~ Handedness ~ Sleep ~ The Manchester Trial ~ A New Hypothesis. Chapter Two: From the Forest Human Evolution ~ Juvenility and Bipedalism ~ Hairlessness and Vitamin D ~ Big Brains ~ Cast Out of the Garden ~ Aggression ~ Why Did Our Brains Stop Expanding? ~ Ancestral Diets ~ Humans are by Nature Frugivorous ~ Protein, Fatty Acids and Water ~ Summary. Chapter Three: Figs, Steroids and Feedback Loops The Core Hypothesis ~ A New Theory of Inheritance ~ Chemicals in Plants ~ The First Primates ~ A Change in Diet and an Increase in Brain Size ~ The Pineal and Exponential Brain Expansion ~ Surviving on the Savannah ~ The Implications of Agriculture ~ Junk Food and Degeneration ~ Summary. Chapter Four: Consciousness The Bicameral Mind ~ Let’s Sing about it ~ Hemispherectomy ~ Schizophrenia ~ Multiple Personality Syndrome ~ Hypnosis ~ Confabulation ~ Deeper into Fear ~ Higher Function ~ Summary. Chapter Five: Fertility and Function Human Fertility ~ The Ancestral Period ~ The Period of Steroid Inhibition ~ Ovulation and Orgasm ~ The Fall ~ Hairy Women and Bald Men ~ Serotonin, Testosterone, Depression and Murder ~ Testosterone, Society and Consciousness ~ Melatonin, the Pineal and Sex ~ Sex and Drugs and Tantric Taboos ~ DMT, the Pineal and Spirit ~ The Immune System ~ A Second Brain ~ Superman/Superwoman ~ Summary. vii Chapter Six: Mad Hatters and Maverick Scientists Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ~ Weak Electro-Magnetic Fields ~ Other Research Areas ~ Restoration. Recommended Reading References viii Foreword ∼ψ∼ The progress of science, and indeed, of human knowledge, requires a dynamic tension between the mere accumulation of observations and “dusty facts” and a synthetic process in which the accumulated results of scientific observation and inquiry are woven together into frameworks that, in the ideal case, create revolutionary paradigms that enhance human understanding of apparently discrete and unrelated aspects of nature. The hypotheses proposed in this book may well represent such a revolutionary paradigm. These ideas do not originate from the mainstream of academia, but rather are the contribution of two independent scholars. The history of science and intellectual inquiry teach us that, as is so often the case with truly novel syntheses, established scientific and intellectual institutions are too ossified, and too invested in the conventionally accepted worldview, to allow the introduction of a new paradigm without putting up considerable resistance. Resistance will more than likely characterize the response to this book; its authors will undoubtedly be denounced as mavericks, unqualified to comment on such a momentous topic as the evolution of human consciousness; the ideas put forth here will be condemned as heresy.