Brain expansion: different theories about rapid expansion (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, September 01, 2020, 15:10 (1545 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: I’m surprised to hear that each new hominin/homo actually dominated the world, but even if you really meant just sapiens, why couldn’t your God’s crystal ball have given him the same message if he’d designed the autonomous mechanism I keep proposing?

Your 'if he designed' doesn't tell us what God could foresee in humans' future activities.Did He see chess or tennis coming? I'm not sure.

DAVID: There is no evidence for your theory that the brain learned how to adapt itself on its own.

dhw: But you wrote: “our brain has the adaptability to react to any and all physical and mental and emotional demands we place on it”, and you have agreed that it does so without any involvement from God! He gave us free will, remember? So what does your comment mean? That God stepped in and gave all post-operative hominins and homos lessons on how to use their free will?

Silly supposition. God's complexification brain program responds to our uses and needs without Him stepping in.

DAVID: There is no proof any brain knows how to expand itself, as the only brain we know doesn't.

dhw: Yes it does, but only in specific sections. And for the thousandth time, there is no proof of any theory. The best we can is offer a feasible explanation. Why is not feasible that the past brain functioned in the same way as the present brain, by reacting to “any and all physical and emotional and mental demands made on it” through complexification and expansion?

Once again you have our brain inexplicably expanding. Areas in our brain make tiny enlargements for specialized tasks, nothing more. No evidence for your theory.

DAVID:The bold forgets my discussions of molecular errors. In advancing evolution God can not trust a DNA design mechanism totally on its own!

dhw: Your discussion of molecular errors finished up with you telling us to ignore them and focus on the 99.99999% success rate.

DAVID: Twisted distortion of my argument. To keep on living each organism needs precise editing. In evolution God is always the final editor. Two separate topics.

dhw: No distortion. See the errors thread.

DAVID: Your interpretation of how a brain reacts does not include any evidence of enlargement. [...] Advances in evolution are so complex only a thinking biological engineer can create them. The brain has never been shown to enlarge itself to the degree seen in fossils.

dhw: Once more: Nobody knows how the brain expanded, and our brain has stopped expanding overall, which is why we have to theorize. See above for the rest of the argument.

DAVID: Our brain stopping enlargement leads only to the conclusion major steps in evolution are over. Theories should fit the facts we know and not contort them.

dhw: We are not discussing whether evolution is over, but your final comment is spot on. Please tell us what facts are contorted by the proposal that just as the modern brain changes itself IN RESPONSE to new requirements by complexifying and sometimes producing a few new cells, earlier brains may have functioned (it’s a theory) through the same process, but produced a lot more new cells than the modern brain, which has now stopped expanding? (Enhanced complexification also led to the redundancy of certain cells.)

Your comment precisely ignores a tenet of evolutionary theory that present organs are built upon the attributes of past designs. What our brain does is an example to what past brains did, perhaps without the shrinkage.