Could Synesthesia Be Natural Step in Human Evolution?
We assume that what goes on in our mind is the same for everyone else, but it’s not.
I met a guy a while back who firmly believes we’ve evolutionarily peaked as a species. According to him, any changes that do occur will be of our own making in the form of technology or medical advancements. While I get where he’s coming from, I respectfully disagree.
In my opinion, humans are nowhere near done evolving. In fact, we’ve already evolved quite a bit over the last few centuries. We’ve noticed some of these changes already, but others, I think, occurred under our radar. For instance, synesthesia is a unique way to experience the world that only a few possess, but could it be another step in human evolution?
What is synesthesia?
If you’re like me, then your five main senses — sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch — are separate and assigned to specific bodily functions. For instance, sounds are only heard by your ears, and colors are only seen by your eyes.
But for people born with synesthesia (pronounced sinna-stee-zia), some of their senses are linked, or merged thanks to an increase of hyperconnectivity within their brain. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, synesthesia is:
