Illustrated book project based on: 

"Das indoktrinierte Gehirn" by Michael Nehls:

...and the following interview:

This is our brain.

This is the hippocampus: our memory center.

The hippocampus is home to our autobiographical memory.

The hippocampus is a very old structure. Animals, that arose very early in evolution, like reptiles, also have an autobiographical memory.

It allows us to remember everything that we have heard immediately.

This memory center allows us to remember a thought that we have had only once.

This works particularly well if the thought is related to something that excites us.

In that case we can remember it forever.

If something generates emotions, it must be important. Emotions are the key to the hippocampus remembering anything at all. It has to filter, because we receive information all day long. Memorizing everything would overwhelm it.

Emotions that we associate with stories that we have experienced ourselves. 

But we also learn from the experiences of others.

We have an imagination and can make things up. This is also only possible because we possess our autobiographical memory.

The "when" and "where" are crucial aspects.

The combination of "when" and "where" neurons defines what we were thinking at a certain time in a certain situation. Therefore we call them index neurons.

Our memory center, the hippocampus, uses these "index neurons" to determine what we thought and how it felt and stores these memories. And if necessary, he can retrieve them.

The hippocampus provides these index neurons during the day when we have thoughts or learn something new.

That's also how in earlier times, for example, people were able to remember where a tree was or a source of water.

If we are tired in the evening, we are less likely to switch on our thinking. 

This condition is known as ego depletion.

There are two thinking systems: fast thinking, which involves routine actions.

And reflection. Having deeper thoughts on an issue.

The ability to think about something depends on whether we have index neurons or not.

If we are exhausted, we no longer want to think because mental energy is lost during ego depletion.

However, this energy is necessary to be able to have new thoughts again and again. And for this process we need the index neurons.

If all the index neurons are used up from thinking so much in one day, there are initially no new synapses being built. After all, we don't want to put any more strain on our brain.

The reason for this is that if we think more deeply, even though all the index neurons are already used up, old index neurons and therefore old memories are simply overwritten. They are being erased forever.

It's like a diary: if you keep writing on a page without eventually turning it, everything becomes just messy in the end. But if the brain produces index neurons, it turns a page onto a new one - figuratively speaking. This is called neurogenesis.

One ability of the hippocampus is to produce thousands of new index neurons every night when we sleep deeply. The next morning we are refreshed to gain new experiences. This process is our mental immune system.

This is so important to broaden our own horizon.

Without the new index neurons, we would constantly be ego-depleted.

Then we would no longer want to let in new thoughts. A big problem...

...then we lack the energy to use our brains for thinking, even in the early morning.

If I want to influence someone to stop thinking, to accept everything, to stop thinking outside the box...

 ...I would have to make sure that the hippocampus no longer produces any new index neurons.

Then a person is chronically exhausted and accepts everything.

In other words, index neurons as a target is a very exciting topic.

Index neurons, which are newly produced, also have other properties: they are responsible for our psychological resilience.

The fewer index neurons we produce, the less psychologically resilient we are.

People who produce few index neurons tend to suffer from depression.

In extreme cases, this becomes chronic. It then becomes the main cause of Alzheimer's when the hippocampus no longer produces index neurons.

The production of index neurons depends on whether we live in a way that is appropriate - and healthy - for our species. Species-appropriate means that we live according to our evolutionary roots.

In earlier days we used to move much more, for example.

Because movement was vital.

And even today: if you get enough exercise, your hippocampus grows.

If we do not live a species-appropriate lifestyle, the production of index neurons will stop.

The hippocampus shrinks.

The same applies to social relationships. People who maintain close social relationships release the hormone oxytocin. The hippocampus grows.

If we are isolated, it shrinks.

Things that were necessary in evolution provide growth impulses for the hippocampus.

We can keep our memory center forever young. Even adults can constantly form new brain cells throughout their lives.

The hippocampus therefore has the ability to grow continuously and accumulate a wealth of experience. It is the only brain region that is capable of doing this.

Our natural curiosity is based on the fact that we are constantly forming new index neurons. This is because the index neurons want to collect new memories.

If this process is disrupted, the neurons die off again because they are no longer needed.

If a person really uses the index neurons, is curious and wants to learn new things, the index neurons are retained.

If we don't live according to what is good and healthy for us as humans, the memory center, the hippocampus, shrinks.

In the western world, the hippocampus has been shrinking for years.

As a result, a society is developing whose autobiographical memory no longer functions. A society that does not question anything anymore and fails at critically thinking.

When something frightens us, our stress level increases.

However, if in an irritating situation the index neurons recognize that there is no real danger, the stress level regulates itself down again.

The index neurons can regulate the stress level. This can prevent depression and Alzheimer's disease.

Chronic stress also blocks the formation of index neurons.

The same applies to chronic inflammation in the body, as the body then has to use all its energy to fight the infection.

Strong emotions force the hippocampus to remember something anyway, even though it no longer has any free index neurons. This means that the hippocampus then overwrites old memories in the event of an incisive emotional event.

Memories fade.

If disturbing news reaches us at a time of day when we are already tired - for example in the evening watching the news - we are constantly forced to allow this content into our consciousness and store it as memories.

Little by little, old memories are overwritten with the emotionally stressful new media content.

That way we are constantly erasing our identity.

If the production of index neurons is inhibited in the long term and permanent fear is stirred up at the same time, our own personality, our individuality, is reduced. As they are based on our previous experiences.

Panic replaces memories. In the long term, the person will only be an accumulation by the narratives that are formed from the experiences of fear.

This makes individuals easily malleable and controllable. They are then open to changes that they would not actually be open to if they still had their own personality and mental variability.

If our mental immune system collapses, a zombie-society without curiosity, creativity and individuality develops.