Big brain evolution: learning new tasks (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, May 01, 2018, 18:18 (2396 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Neat sidestep. The Mother's body has to accommodate a bigger bay head. Two separate bodies are involved. No way around it!

Why did you leave out my next sentence? “That is why I emphasize that the body is a community of cell communities which cooperate.”

Still sidestepping. The baby is one body, the mother is another body. How did they ( cell committees) communicate the differing needs?

DAVID: The only material needed is the brain and its level of function. The s/s/c has to use something material. No way around it. Material brain, immaterial thought is recognized dualism, before trying to explain the mechanism. I am not your dualist theory; I am my dualist theory. Don't squeeze me into your mental box!

dhw: There is no disagreement on any of this! In dualism the immaterial s/s/c uses the material brain. The disagreement lies in your insistence that the immaterial s/s/c cannot think new thoughts until the material brain has already changed, together with statements to the effect that a sick brain will produce sick thoughts and that only a more complex brain can “give” more complex concepts, all of which are materialist arguments that contradict the dualism you believe in.

You just contradicted yourself. Yes, the s/s/c must use a material brain which will express its thoughts, which if sick will be garbled, if simple can only produce simple thought, and if complex can produce complex thought, each initially expressed by the s/s/c to the brain.

dhw: The sidestepping is yours. The subject of this thread is the expansion of the brain. But in answer to your comment, I’m surprised that you don’t regard our giant pre-frontal cortex as an improvement, since it plays such a vital role in our ability to implement the new concepts that make us so different from other species. See above re coordination. If all the cell communities fail to adapt, the organism won’t survive.

Still sidestepping the issue of changes in two different individuals, mother and baby. Haven't you noticed the bigger head requires a different pelvic bony canal

dhw: But I have always accepted your first objection: we know that the cell communities can achieve smaller changes (adaptations), but we don’t know the extent of their talents, which is why my hypothesis is a hypothesis and not a fact.
DAVID: Nothing is fact except the new species exist, and each of us has a favorite theory in which mine includes God.

dhw: Mine can also include God.

But it really doesn't. You are an Agnostic.