Chimps'r' not us: latest brain/language development theory (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, August 09, 2019, 18:39 (1934 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Lots of the world is on my side. Of course the big brain, once present, took time to learn to be used. But still big 'old' brain first and use second. You provide non-rebuttals.

dhw: It took time for the big brain, once present, to progress from simple language to the complexities of modern language, but I have no doubt that every generation of homo that possessed the big brain of modern humans would have used it. How else would they have communicated? The issue on which we differ is how and when the earlier smaller brain became the big brain. You say God did a dabble to enlarge the brain, which wasn't used for thousands of years, and I propose that pre-sapiens required more complex forms of communication and the brain cells responded to the new need by enlarging the brain through the new uses (like pre-whale legs turning into whale flippers through new uses). But of course once the brain was in place, it continued to be used right up to the present day!

DAVID: Our only disagreement now seems to be God's role in creating the human brain.

dhw: If you agree that it is sheer nonsense to assume that pre-sapiens and sapiens did not use their expanded brain (which lay “fallow”) for umpteen thousand years, our disagreement is over how and when the brain expanded, as detailed above. If that is what you mean by “God’s role”, then OK.

We have identified our disagreement.