A theory on the origins of expression.

Mark Changizi on his new book Expressly Human

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Truth be told, I am a pro-masker promoting a book that is in some ways about anti-masking. But hear me out and then decide where you fall, perhaps this is naive of me, but I trust you to make the right decision for what your personal needs are at the moment. Mark Changizi’s work came into my orbit around the time I was reading “I Never Thought of It That Way,” by Monica Guzman. Monica is the proud child of Mexican Immigrants who are avid Trump supporters. She argues, and I agree, that listening and understanding, and offering up compassion is the way forward for humanity.

Mark Changizi is a theorist, writer, and educator (who also participates in CrossFit). He falls pretty safely under the Silver Fox category (not my type but he is the type of person who undeniably falls high within western social beauty standards.) Why do I mention this? Perhaps for a few reasons, but mainly because it is interesting to me to state the obvious and also acknowledge all of the judgments that I made about him before meeting him. He also has a substack.

MARK CHANGIZI is a theorist aiming to grasp the ultimate foundations underlying why we think, feel and see as we do. His research focuses on "why" questions, and he has made important discoveries such as on why we see in color, why we see illusions, why we have forward-facing eyes, why the brain is structured as it is, why animals have as many limbs and fingers as they do, why the dictionary is organized as it is, why fingers get pruney when wet, where emotional expressions came from, and how we acquired writing, language and music.

From his bio, I felt like we had a lot in common - he is also obviously brilliant. On the good days, I identify as a well-intentioned idiot. I made the assumption that because he was a social scientist who had written extensively about areas that I am interested in with people I respect, I would support his viewpoints.

However, after reading his new book, Expressly Human, I started to do more research on him and lots came up. He has several Ted talks, lots of non-fiction books, and even two sci-fi novels. His theories on the origins of music and language are really big. His explanation of why humans have the combination of cones we do for the perception of color is fascinating - he disputes the classic argument that humans have evolved to have the color range that we do to seek fruits and other food sources. Changizi’s view, as I understand it, is that we evolved to see the color range that we did from the express need to decode emotions in other humans. He also re-frames why our fingers and toes become raisins with long exposure to water: it is functional. It is adaptive to be able to grip and move in water more efficiently.

All of these are theories, but really interesting ones. They promote aha moments with abundance. They are also very dangerous and question the fabric of our cultural understanding of reality. I didn’t sleep last night over it. As I lay in bed watching videos on his YouTube, I kept getting choked up with fear. How do I talk to someone who I feel is advocating for things that I have been told will harm my daughter? (Margaret has CF and we were wearing masks to curb transmission of illness to her before covid.) I say this with lots of judgments and unknowns. I do think it is brave of him to talk to people who disagree with him with kindness and honesty. I respect that, even tho I disagree with some of his theories, there are lots of places where we overlap. I have to say, I was surprised by how much I liked him. Regardless, I am presenting this to you with conflicting values - and I am not sure where exactly I fall on the spectrum.

We are doing a book giveaway for Expressly Human. Comment here to let me know if you would like to be interested in reading the book - and we will email two people to get your address.

I am really grateful for you taking the time to read this and think about what it feels like to be other humans. This is a muscle I am working on. Take care in taking care of yourself, Carissa