Evolution and humans: big brain size or use (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, May 22, 2017, 19:49 (2740 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: If brainless consciousness cannot think, then you will have to abandon your belief in an afterlife as yourself.
DAVID: Once again you separate everything as if they don't interlock. Brainless consciousness does think in NDE's and the memories are brought back.

dhw: As above. If you believe that the brain and consciousness are interlocked, i.e. consciousness cannot exist without the brain, out goes your afterlife, and in comes materialism.

No. I believe, as I've stated, that there is a universal consciousness, a part of which can be used by the brain for use by the brain. My portion of that consciousness returns to universal consciousness after death and now is in the afterlife.

dhw: In other words, which comes first – the tools or the concept?[/i]

DAVID: As a newborn I'm given the tools as my brain develops and accepts the receipt of consciousness which it then uses, creating my personality, my concept of self.

dhw: The discussion concerns the enlargement of the brain. You say the brain got bigger, which gave rise to new concepts. I say that if you believe in dualism, it has to be the new concepts that triggered the enlargement of the brain. By the time you arrived on Planet Earth, the brain had already been enlarged.

The enlarged brain gave the ability to develop concepts through a more advanced form of thinking, that the more complex brain allowed using the receipt of consciousness ability. We had the ability 200,000 years ago to do advanced theoretical math, but only developed it in the past 300 years. Brain size first, concepts afterward.