Dunbar's Number

Twig Wheeler, a colleague from the world of Somatic Experiencing, first introduced me to “Dunbar’s Number.” According to this theory the human brain is hard-wired to track one hundred and fifty people and their familial relationships. Supposedly, beyond that, the ol’ brain begins to smoke and froth and do all sorts of Sci-Fi weirdo melt-downs.

One of the directors of Camp  Ronald McDonald for Good Times disproves Dunbar’s theory. Dot can tell you all the names of all the siblings of all the campers who’ve been through this camp for the last 12 years... that’s about 600 to 800 campers per year plus their siblings, plus counselors and parents! I can’t even do the math to know how many folks that means - let alone remember their names and familial connections!

At a recent fun-draiser for this essential and fabulous Oncology Camp, on the back lot of Universal Studios, Dot and I talked about Dunbar and his magic (though flawed in her case) number. She allowed as how other things go missing from her head just because it IS so over-crowded in there. We agreed it would be mighty handy to have a magic wand and a pensive... a` la Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series. 

Would that I COULD remove some of the thoughts clogging up my brain! Would that I could excise and store them in cool glass vials all corked and ready to be retrieved ONLY when I wish to relive those particular thoughts and events - IF ever!

Unlike the “Rewind” movie with Adam Sandler, which I never saw, but whose premise was described to me in detail, I don’t want to change history, I just don’t want my personal history pulling my chains in the present moment.

If I meet someone I deem an authority figure at a social gathering and my ol’ brain conjures the scariest authority figure of my life (dad), suddenly I want to disappear and crawl under the nearest sofa with my heart beating like that of a humming bird. Not so conducive to social interactions, right? I don’t want to CHANGE my history because it did give me many gifts... empathy for others faced with similar AFPs (Authority Figure Phobias) among them. I WOULD, however, like to pull the original terror reaction out of my brain and drop it gently into one of Dumbledore’s pretty vials and store that scene  safely away for future reference, should I ever need to look it up.

I can almost sense the coolness of the quick-silvery mist leaving my head and making room for... well, just about anything else would be a better use of my brain real estate than terror! I’d like to REMEMBER the names of all the folks I meet at this hypothetical social gathering... including the (formerly) dread Authority Figure!

Wouldn’t that be sweet? To have enough room in my keppy for important stuff would be such a welcomed gift!

Hey! I might even surpass Dunbar and his number 150 - like Dot does!

Bless J.K. Rowling for conceiving of the Pensive. Now if only Steve Jobs were here to build it for me....

As a follow-up note to the "eaten homework" of last week... The Mac needed to complete some essential “down-loads.” Once accomplished, in the capable hands of Kelly at the Genius Bar in the Mac Store, the brand-new-baby-computer was just fine! Whewh! Not a bad Apple after all. The Ants have not come back since being expelled via vacuum... three days in a row. They were persistent critters! I wonder what their version of Dunbar’s Number is!!??