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And in its broadest sense, neural Darwinism implies that we are destined, whether we wish it or not, to a life of particularity and self-development, to make our own individual paths through life.
There’s one thing we haven’t talked about. It’s the giant elephant in the room—the crippling weakness all ambitious performers suffer from and no one willingly admits. It’s the other reason we turn to our friends and family for feedback, loathe performance reviews, and, at times, invest weeks (if not years) “perfecting” projects in isolation before reluctantly seeking outside input. We’re petrified of negative feedback. It’s not an unreasonable impulse. Hearing that our best efforts are falling short is a painful, unsettling experience. In part, it’s because of the way the human brain experiences failure. Encountering criticism triggers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone that elevates our anxiety, disrupts our focus, and prevents us from listening attentively. Feeling threatened, we assume a defensive posture, characterized by fight (respond defensively) or flight (end the conversation), neither of which comes remotely close to sparking self-reflection or stimulating growth. Often, the emotional fallout is made worse by the stories we tell ourselves about our setbacks. Negative feedback is never simply about a lackluster performance on a task. It’s about what that failing represents—what it reveals about our talent, ability, and potential.
Decoding Greatness
Ron Friedman
This delegation has been one of our highest national secrets. The same was true for the Soviet Union, now Russia. Public discussion of American plans for “decapitation” of Soviet command and control led to the institution and maintenance of a “Dead Hand”19 system of delegation that would assure retaliation to an American attack that destroyed Moscow and other command centers. This, too, has been treated as a state secret: paradoxically, since on both sides the secrecy and denial diminish deterrence of a decapitating attack against it (see chapter 9). An urgent reason for enlightening the world’s public on this reality of the nuclear era is that it is virtually certain that this same secret delegation exists in every nuclear state, including the new ones: Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. How many fingers are on Pakistani nuclear buttons? Probably not even the president of Pakistan knows reliably.
The Doomsday Machine
Daniel Ellsberg
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