Back to brain expansion (Humans)

by dhw, Saturday, October 24, 2020, 09:18 (1490 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTES: The new analysis reveals how a changing climate along with new land faults introduced by tectonic activity and ecological disruptions in the vegetation and fauna all came together to drive disruptions that made technological innovation, trading resources and symbolic communication¬—three key factors in adaptability—beneficial for early humans in this region.[/b]

"'Then with humans in the mix, and some of their innovations like projectile weapons, they also may have affected the fauna. It's a whole ecosystem changing, with humans as part of it.'"
[…]
dhw: This is a brand new contribution to our discussion on brain expansion. My proposal has always been that brain expansion was triggered by new requirements which demanded extra cells. Previously you have harped on the fact that there was no evidence of new requirements. Here you have a whole list of them, all occurring at the same time as the known expansion of the brain. Your proposal is that your God expanded the brain in anticipation of the changes listed above. Mine is that the brain expanded in response to these requirements. Nothing proved, of course, but this article removes your main objection to my theory. Many thanks for drawing our attention to it.

DAVID: You are using the Darwinian interpretations in the articles. Naturally they would say the environmental changes provoked the larger brain. The bold of 320,000 years ago marks a beginning, not an exact driving force, of new products, just at the exact time H sapiens new big brain suddenly appeared according to our fossil record at this time. I'll stick with God as speciating the big brain.

dhw: You had told us there were no new requirements to justify my proposal that the effort to meet new requirements caused brain expansion. Now we learn that there were multiple new requirements. We needn’t go over the rest of the discussion. I am simply pointing out that your major objection to my theory has been removed.

DAVID: Not removed. The timing of events and brain expansion is not clear. A chicken and egg problem. The timing simply shows the Big Brain is strictly related to the new events. I view the responses by sapiens as a result of better thinking capacity. God drives evolution not nature.

Yes, we’ve been over all that. But your main objection to my argument that meeting new requirements triggered the expansion of the brain was that we did not know of any new requirements that took place when our brains expanded to their present size. Apparently there were lots of new requirements, and although that does not change your belief that God expanded brains in anticipation of them, it does remove your main objection to my own proposal.

DAVID: Note yesterday's entry: "erectus made barbed bone points (Introduction)
by David Turell @, Thursday, October 22, 2020, 23:11". Erectus could think to the level their brain allowed. What appears as new depends on the level of the model of brain available for use.

That is your theory. Mine is that the brain expands when it does not have the capacity to meet new requirements. We really don’t need to go over all that again. The article shows that you can no longer use absence of new requirements as an objection to my proposal.