reverse + evolution = revolution ?!

so we all know that evolution is the process through which something (usually a living being) changes into a different and (usually, again) more complex or better form. one of the key factors in evolution of animals has been communication, as this has led to formation of communities. for humans, the benefits of societal living in the neanderthal past have been safety in numbers, as well as specialisation in food gathering. over time, man has learned to become a social animal, and the formation and development of villages, towns, then cities grew directly from that need.

how about a person living as a hermit, or even worse, in solitary confinement for a life term. no contact with any human beings. your only way of passing time is thinking. your only spoken words are to yourself. in but a matter of time, words will evade you, vocabulary will weaken, and you will forget languages you learned. you will forget what human touch feels like, and the only emotions you know will be those you express, but to what use when the only outlet for these emotions is yourself?

for someone in solitary confinement, life becomes that slot through which your tray of food is passed through the door. your ears will accustom to silence, and will strain to catch any footsteps outside the thick stone walls. escape from your mind becomes that little slit high up in the wall through which you cannot even see the sun, but just a strip of light. day is only different from night in that strip, which is either black or white.

under such conditions, do you reverse evolve? do you forget the past and go back to the basic vegetative functions of life? and when the blackness is so dark that you feel like you're floating in space, do you touch your eyes to find out if you still have them? when the silence is so loud that you can't hear yourself think, do you scream out loud to discover if sound still exists? is that what insanity is?

And yet I find, Repeating in my head

If I can’t be my own, I’d feel better dead

'Nutshell'- Alice In Chains