Comments? Send me a text message.
The Obstetric Dilemma and the Birth of the Plastic Brain
What happens when evolution backs itself into a corner? In this episode of Flourish As You Age, Michael C. Patterson explores one of the most profound evolutionary compromises of all: the obstetric dilemma.
As our ancestors evolved upright posture and larger brains, childbirth became a dangerous bottleneck. The solution wasn’t elegant but it was effective—babies began to be born earlier, with brains still unfinished. This kluge changed everything. Human infants arrived helpless, but also highly adaptable. Their malleable brains would be shaped not just by biology, but by culture, care, and community.
This episode traces how the obstetric dilemma led to heightened brain plasticity—our capacity to learn, adapt, and reinvent ourselves across the lifespan. But plasticity is a double-edged sword: the same flexibility that fuels creativity, empathy, and cooperation can also reinforce fear, bias, and brutality.
Along the way, we’ll consider how early caregiving environments sculpt our baseline outlook on life, why habits—good and bad—get wired so deeply into the brain, and how culture itself became an evolutionary force.
The story of the obstetric dilemma isn’t just about childbirth—it’s about how humans became a species whose minds are built, rebuilt, and reshaped through experience. It’s a story of ingenuity, vulnerability, and possibility.
If you want to support this work, click above, subscribe to the MINDRAMP Podcast, or sign up for the free Flourish As You Age newsletter for reviews of current research, reflections, updates, and special extras from my book-in-progress
