Human evolution; sticks and stones (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, January 13, 2018, 14:02 (2506 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: Thank you for this fascinating article. For some reason it appeared three times, so I have deleted two of the posts. The article clearly shows the complex advances which would have coincided with the expansion of the brain: Australopithecus approx. 450 cc, habilis approx. 600 cc, erectus approx. 1100 cc, Neanderthal approx. 1400 cc, slightly larger than sapiens approx. 1300 cc. Just a quick reminder of the hypotheses offered so far to explain the expansion: random mutations, bipedalism, use of fire, cooked foods (and better diet), the need for extra capacity to implement new concepts (mine), God’s 3.8 billion-year-old computer programme or personal dabbling in advance of new concepts (David’s).

DAVID: I don't know why the website published it three times. Perhaps impressed by it? You skipped over the argument between us: push or pull? I prefer pull. Bigger to allow for concepts to develop, as shown by artifacts that appear after growth in size.

I don’t know how you can say I skipped the argument. I have listed ALL the arguments! However, as I keep repeating, the artefacts could not appear until the brain had expanded sufficiently to produce them. “Allow…to develop” is another of your obfuscations. According to your dualistic beliefs (see “Consciousness and brain damage”) the “soul” produces the concepts, and the brain implements them.