Different in degree or kind (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Wednesday, December 25, 2013, 19:08 (3772 days ago) @ David Turell


> > Matt: But that just tells the story of how selective pressure of hunting resulted in driving humans towards language. We were on the ground before H. Erectus fossils were created.
> 
> But, believe me, those early guys couldn't talk any better than a chimp.You are using the fancy Darwin term selective pressure to glorify natural selection which is a really passive factor, only capable of choosing between variable forms. Seeting up the ability to speak took a long, long time. The H. erectus palate was only slightly arched and the other changes of tongue muscles, dropped larynx, and the epiglottis protection, based on fossil evidence,is thought to have taken thousands of generations with the full ability to modern speech appearing about 100,000+ years ago. I'm quoting McCrone's book The Ape that spoke. I just don't buy your theory of lucky mutations.-Then you better not buy the fact that all breeds of dog came from a common wolf ancestor selected for specific traits by human intelligence. If we can do it to dogs, we can do it to ourselves. And I argue we have. -My scenario is infinitely more plausible than magic hoodoo concocting a more suitable larynx.

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