Is there such thing as a “baseline human?”

I describe the configuration of the human nervous system known as “neurotypical” as being divergent from an adaptive baseline. But is there such thing as a “baseline” human? A “baseline” wolf? After all, every organism is the result of ongoing evolution. Am I just comparing one phase of adaptation to another?

If I were talking about evolutionary drift, or ecological selection within an intact system, then yes…I’d be fucking up. But the civilizing / domesticating process isn’t that.

Domestication is artificial selection, not natural selection. In wild systems, traits are selected by feedback…what works, persists. In domesticated systems, traits are selected by suppression…what submits, survives. That’s a forced bottleneck, not an evolutionary trajectory. A wolf doesn’t become a dog by evolving, but by being confined, starved, bred, and rewarded into compliance. Same with us.

And I’m comparing different conditions, not forms. This isn’t wolf vs. dog, or Paleolithic vs. modern human…it’s organism regulated by coherent feedback loops vs. organism surviving in a distorted, feedback-inverted environment. This isn’t some kind of nostalgia for prehistory…it’s about system integrity.

It’s laughable that we live in a “world” where we have to be reminded that there is a functional baseline…you could call it feedback coherence, I guess. Coherent behavior is maintained through timely, proportionate, meaningful feedback. That’s the baseline…it’s a system condition (not a species). When a system becomes functionally closed, symbolically governed, and/or predictively trapped, it loses that baseline (even if it survives in the short term).

You might respond that evolution got us here. But evolutionary processes don’t “justify” maladaptive systems. Saying there’s no baseline is a post hoc rationalization for harm. And I hear that all the time. People justifying obesity in dogs because it’s common in the breed. Or calling office work “adaptive” because it pays well. Or saying modern humans are just “evolved” for abstraction and control…even as the world burns and mental illness becomes the new norm.

Evolution doesn’t care about health or coherence. It simply tracks what survives. But feedback is what sustains life, and it’s being severed.

Ask yourself: what is selected for in society, as you know it? If you had to name one thing? Honesty? Hard work? Ambition?

I think it’s compliance. I think the civilizing/domesticating process replaces selection for survival with selection for compliance.

Let’s look at wild systems first. There, the selection pressure is for ecological coherence. Traits are favored because they enhance survival in a feedback-rich environment (keen senses, strong affective bonds, situational learning, pattern recognition, adaptability). An organism has to remain in sync with reality, or it dies.

But in civilized systems, it’s easy to see that traits are favored because they enable success within an artificial, abstracted system (obedience, rule-following, role performance, suppression of emotion and instinct). You have to fit the symbolic structure, or you’re punished, excluded, pathologized, or discarded.

It sucks because what was adaptive (sensitivity, integrity, etc.) is maladaptive in this odd place we call “civilization.” And what was dangerous (passivity, abstraction, dissociation) is rewarded.

Think: selecting for people who can function without reality (instead of people who thrive in it).

It’s not far fetched. At all. Sickly animals that can’t survive in the wild. Office workers who ignore chronic pain and emotional numbness (and get promoted). An entire species driving itself toward collapse while calling it “progress.”

This whole trainwreck we’re on is a case of runaway selection, but instead of selecting for extravagant traits like peacock feathers, it selects for compliance with abstraction and resilience to incoherence. And like all runaway selection processes, it becomes self-reinforcing, decoupled from reality, and ultimately self-destructive.

Don’t believe me? Let’s track it.

Quick review of the basic concept. In biology, runaway selection occurs when a trait is favored so intensely within a closed feedback loop (e.g. mate choice, social signaling) that it amplifies beyond functional limits (it doesn’t serve survival anymore…it just signals compatibility with the system).

Peacocks grow huge, draggy tails because other peacocks think it means they’re fit (not because it helps them survive). Humans undergo surgeries, wear restrictive clothes, or starve themselves for “attractiveness” under runaway cultural ideals. Same dynamic. And civilizations grow more complex, abstract, and self-referential not because it’s sustainable, but because “Complexity” signals legitimacy and control.

Let’s run through it again.

Civilization creates a system (think classrooms, corporations, governments) where success depends on suppressing natural feedback. Then it rewards those most tolerant of abstraction, delay, hierarchy, and contradiction. This filters out feedback-sensitive traits. That keeps happening until the system becomes so self-referential that it can’t correct course anymore…it’s bred out the ability to perceive correction.

So it’s a runaway selection for dissociation. For the kind of human who can survive it (even if it clearly can’t survive the world).

Like all runaway systems, the trait (in this case, compliance) accumulates beyond adaptive range. The system grows more fragile and less correctable. Feedback from the real world becomes too painful or too late. And collapse happens from the inability to stop succeeding at being disconnected (not from a single failure).

We’re not evolving.

We’re overfitting. Civilization is a runaway selection loop for traits that thrive in unreality.

And the “neurotypical” configuration is a collection of those traits. It’s not a neutral or natural norm…it’s a phenotypic outcome of this runaway selection.

A configuration that is tolerant of contradiction (doesn’t break down where reality and narrative diverge). That is emotionally buffered (can perform even when distressed). That is low in sensory vigilance (can endure loud offices, artificial lights, social facades). That is socially adaptive (mirrors norms, infers expectations, suppresses authenticity). That complies with rules even when rules are nonsensical. That’s able to delay gratification, ignore bodily needs, and maintain appearances.

I’m not saying these traits are bad per se…but I think we can all agree that they’re not the “baseline human.” They’re the domesticated phenotype, selected over generations to survive in systems where truth no longer matters.

And, of course, the more a system rewards these traits, the more they proliferate (socially, genetically, culturally). It becomes harder for feedback-sensitive individuals to survive. Reality has to be increasingly suppressed to preserve the illusion of normalcy. Eventually, the only people who appear “well-adjusted” are the ones most disconnected from feedback…and the entire system becomes incapable of detecting its own failure. That’s the endpoint of runaway selection.

I have a hard time with the dominant narrative…that the neurotypical profile is some kind of gold standard of human functioning. To me, it’s clearly the domesticated outcome of a system that rewards compliance (and “stability,” such as it is) over coherence or contact with reality.

* When I say “neurotypical,” it’s not meant as some kind of medical category. I think of it as the cognitive-behavioral phenotype most rewarded by civilization (modern society, yes, but also throughout the history of civilization). I don’t see it as a person. Not every “neurotypical person” fits this mold. I’m almost certain no one fits it perfectly. I’m describing a directional pressure, not a binary condition. And it isn’t “bad.” It’s simply optimized for the wrong environment (one that destroys life). Neurotypicality isn’t unnatural…it’s civilizationally adaptive (in a system that’s maladaptive to life).