Our powerful, charismatic brain is not designed for long-term planning and projecting. Its impressive capacity to solve problems is at its peak only when these problems are present right here, right now. From a survival point of view, the “right here right now” is much more important than 10 years from now, or even 10 minutes from now. Since there is no point in planning for the future if you cannot survive the next 10 minutes, evolution shaped our brains to focus only on the next few minutes or hours. “Surviving for today” is by far our brain’s main priority, while long-term planning takes the back seat: those who can survive the next 10 minutes are much more likely to pass down their genes. The “right here right now” modality of our brain has been supercharged by evolution to be a dominant driver in our thinking and decision-making.
If evolution had selected a brain that focused on the long-term consequences of our actions instead, we would all be a civilisation of dreamers and philosophers. And while dreamers may be intelligent, they are too aloof and intellectual to pass on their genes, and much more likely to die while still mulling over the perfect solution. As a civilisation of dreamers, we would be great at imagining a sustainable future world, but we would risk losing the plot on today, and making it through the next 10 minutes. The in-depth rumination and analysis of impacts of our decisions 10 years down the line would possibly inhibit us from taking timely decisions in the present, and making those grandiose, audacious, high-risk signature ventures our civilisation is known for (such as invading the country next door or burning down a rainforest).
From a survival perspective it is much safer to take a sloppy decision in the next 10 minutes than sit and ruminate on the perfect decision while the country next door decides to launch a surprise invasion. Our “fight or flight” responses exist for a reason: they are powerful hormonal cascades enabling us to take the quickest decisions, not the right decisions. The tragedy of these hormonal cascades plays out at the civilisational level, often overcoming any “stop and think” process. The long-term envisioning of existential disasters is a cognitive function that was deliberately suppressed by the evolutionary process.
It is easy to imagine how indispensable the 10-minute brain was in primitive times, when we were faced with constant danger. Survival “in the next 10 minutes” was not a metaphor but a palpable reality. There was never a cosy day off chilling at home, watching Netflix and reading books. We were too busy searching for our next meal and for safe shelter as we explored new, unknown and dangerous environments. Evolution selected a brain that could help us take care of the most imminent problems of the present. It selected for the 10-minute brain.
To ensure survival, and despite increasing in size by orders of magnitude, our brain had to hold on to those important fight and flight responses even as it evolved. It had to remain as a “10-minute brain”, even though it became smarter in terms of processing capacity. This ensured that however smart we become, decision time is always locked down to a survivable, 10-minute threshold.
Cognitive biases exist for a reason: they help people quickly narrow down decision options and react in a timely fashion. Denial, delusion and hope are so dominant in humans because they have played an important role in our survival. The downside is sloppy, selfish and heavily biased decision-making. We ended up creating a series of fleeting “10-minute civilisations” one after another, each one passing down to its successor all the issues it failed to resolve. We are living in the final civilisation, where these millennia-old issues cannot be ignored any longer. The longest 10 minutes of your life have just begun.
George is an author, researcher, molecular biologist and food scientist.
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George Tsakraklides 
The assertions you make regarding our evolution and how our brains function are commonly made. I find that the patterns you assert describe the actual habits of our Modern Techno-Industrial (MTI) cultures. However, they are at odds with the actual patterns of consciousness of indigenous peoples. (They fit the stereotypes that many modern cultures have on indigenous peoples, but that is another matter.) What evidence do you have that your views are accurate? I want views developed by folks who actually have a deep knowledge and appreciation of indigenous cultures. Merely being a scientist is not enough. Most scientists are no more conscious of their own deep patterns of consciousness, much less those which are found in other forms of civilization.