The Hard-wired brain 26

Howard Bloom in an email quotes neurobiologist John Skolyes as saying "culture can literally rewire the brain".

Some thoughts (leaving aside the linguistic quibble about whether "literally" is to be taken literally):

the child is a clean slate, a "tabula rasa" until exposed to rewiring by its culture
an authentic culture which encourages development beyond the level at which it is functioning can lead to a more favourable rewiring than a problematic culture which blocks development above its own level, or which is indifferent to the whole question of development
if the mainstream culture doesn't provide the hard-wiring it will come from somewhere else (pop, peer group, commercial TV)
recognizing the fact that another's brain may be hard-wired in a different way is a help to profitable communication and avoidance of a lot of futile arguments that are not going to lead anywhere
recognizing the hard-wiring in one's own brain is a help to personal development which consists to a large extent in deprogramming that part of the hard-wiring that has a limiting effect on that development
of course personal trauma can also be an important source of hard-wiring which also needs deprogramming
pathological hard-wiring can include anything from minor obsessions, guru worship, addictions, eating disorders to criminal behaviour
deprogramming can take hours, weeks or even the best part of a lifetime but remains worthwhile
Simplistic? maybe, but a simple model can still be a useful one.
The Boddhisatva vow becomes:

As long as there are sentient beings
I vow to save them from exposure to problematic hard-wiring
And from the limiting effects of hard-wiring already carried out

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