I was honored to be named as a guest speaker in the upcoming congress on Cortical Evolution 2018. The same will be celebrated in the Canary Islands, birthplace of my family. My lecture will focus on how physical principles, primarily laws of conservation, have constrained brain development and evolution. If given time I will also elaborate on the modular organization of the cerebral cortex and on how its organization fits within modern concepts on systems theory.  For those interested I have written previous blogs on cortical chauvinism regarding minicolumns and the organization of the cerebral cortex and how these subjects relate to autism.