Big brain evolution (Evolution)

by dhw, Saturday, January 20, 2018, 14:17 (2497 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: You have forgotten I write brain and imply s/s/c in action as understood. We've covered this, but you keep editing my writing. Sudden expansion is God in action.

dhw: There is no editing.... What is discontinuous is the dualistic argument that the soul is the source of new ideas, but can only have new ideas when the brain has already expanded - an argument which underpins materialism.

DAVID: In my concept, the s/s/c can only use the capacity the brain presents.

In mine too. You agree that the s/s/c is the source of the concept, and it uses the brain to acquire information and to implement the concept. And so if the pre-sapiens s/s/c could not use the existing brain capacity to implement its concept, then the capacity had to be increased. We don’t need computer analogies. You just need to respond to the contradiction (“discontinuity”) I have pointed out above, although perhaps your “I will” below means you realize the argument is untenable. (NB Reminder: Once the pre-sapiens brain has expanded, it may well have new ideas that it CAN cope with through complexification. Expansion only comes when the new concept exceeds the existing capacity.)

dhw: The soul (if it exists) uses the brain to provide the information it thinks about, and it uses the brain to implement its ideas. You have agreed to this over and over again (see your post under “brain damage”, 13 January at 01.05), as exemplified by your facile computer image, in which the software (soul) provides the idea, and the brain (computer) implements it.
DAVID: Good explanation.
dhw: So please bear it in mind when arguing that “the bigger brain has the new idea”, and mental processes are biochemical, and new concepts can only be conceived once the brain has already expanded.
DAVID: I will.

Thank you. But I will keep reminding you of this agreement whenever necessary!

DAVID: Note the issue of brain development being required for baby learning:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/social-sciences/babies-learn-at-a-non-linear-rate

QUOTE: “These results indicate that babies learn in punctuated bursts, not at a steady linear rate over time, and the timing of those bursts are as idiosyncratic as the children themselves. "
DAVID’s comment: [...] What the researchers are showing us is the punctuated rate at which the brain adds complexdity of the cortex. The same point fits the development of the homo brain in 150/200 cc burst during evolution. A brain can only produce through control by the s/s/c only as much as its complexity allows. Complexity first, artifacts second.

Of course the baby does not have a fully developed brain. The researchers’ point is that it develops in bursts which vary with individuals – as confirmed by my observations of my twin grandsons. And yes, a brain can only produce what its complexity or (pre-sapiens) its capacity allows, and so if the capacity does not allow production of the new concept (the artefact), it must expand, and if existing complexity (sapiens) does not allow implementation of the concept (reading and writing) it must add to its complexity. Expansion/ complexification does not precede artefacts/reading & writing but is caused by the process of implementation. The reading and writing example has been confirmed by modern science.