The brain is a symbiotic parasite – but some (much maligned) individuals have found a way to break free of it’s tyrannical influence!

Why is it that some creatures get along perfectly fine without brains and some don’t? And also, why is it that the brain always has that oh-so-convenient protective shell of bone for every animal that has it? And why is it that the sensory organs are always mounted in such a way that the point of view is from the brain’s perspective?

Well try this idea on for size: Maybe the brain is acutally a symbiotic parasite, possibly even extraterrestrial in origin!
There was a time when all the native lifeforms of earth were all without brains, then all of a sudden creatures with brains started popping up. Usually it was the creatures with the roboust bodies that got brains, so perhaps the reason this occured was because the brains had weak, probably invertebrate bodies and wanted to trade up.

As I mentioned, it was a symbiotic relationship, because brains have a superior ability to process sensory input and store useful information for later. At first it would have been fairly crude, with the brains making connections with the soft tissue and nervous systems of creatures they worked with.

Eventually, somwhere down the track, brains developed the ability to drastically alter the physiology of the creatures they worked with, so that they could ride in rather than on their partner ceatures.
This works with the extraterrestrial origin theory, as brains could in fact be aliens with biotechnology far superior to our own…so while we are busy building cars and helicopters and spaceships to ride about in, the brains just saw about adapting what nature had created for their own use.

Eventually it got to the point where many creatures were born with a brain inside them as a functioning vital organ, which was much more efficient than each brain attatching itself to a host. In fact, by now the symbiotic relationship is so strong that those creatures who are born with brains can no longer function without them, due to control of vital homeostasis processes. This was probably intentional, as the brains early on would have ensured ‘loyalty’ by threatening a host with extreme pain or even death through heart palpitations.

Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Remember zombies?
They’ve got no brains, and what are they always trying to eat? That’s right – Brains!
Zombies are arguably the best representation of humanity’s natural state in modern times. Somehow or other they have managed to break the cycle of bondage to our brains that we are all born with, and they’re pissed off and out for revenge!

So if you see a zombie, feel free to gladly let him or her eat your brains, because they’re actually doing you a great favour.