Evolution: more genomic evidence of pre-planning Part One (Evolution)

by dhw, Thursday, April 15, 2021, 10:49 (1101 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: […] my proposal includes the possibility that your God designed the whole system It is therefore ”reasonable” to propose that the system itself works through the intelligence of cells that have the ability to RESPOND to new ideas. conditions etc. by either expanding or complexifying. Nothing is proven, but I would suggest that our knowledge of how the modern brain works makes this theory considerably more likely than the theory that your God kept expanding brains for no particular reason other than to prepare them for ideas and conditions which might arise in the future.

DAVID: The bold makes no sense. Our highly used brain shrank 150 cc while complexifying. It was enlarged far in advance of its current use, that is history you distort.

dhw: And so yet again you go back to size, and yet again you ignore my interpretation of history, which means that yet again I must repeat it. The initial expansion to 1350cc would have been the result of fulfilling a new requirement (e.g. new ideas, tools, weapons, environmental conditions, discoveries, social changes). From that moment on, 1350cc were all in use, and through complexification met all requirements (just like all their antecedents) until, perhaps 245,000 years later – peanuts compared to erectus’s 2 million years – more new requirements arose which previously would have required further expansion. But the brain did not expand (perhaps because further expansion might have caused anatomical problems), and so instead it enhanced its capacity for complexification. This proved so efficient that 150cc of cells which previously had been essential were no longer needed. Now please tell me why this makes no sense to you.

DAVID: Size, complexity and new functions are all part of our discussion. The bold makes no sense to me. It doesn't explain at all the shrinkage of 150 cc later on in homo history and simply implies the brain was oversized for current use when sapiens appeared.

I really don’t know how else I can phrase the bold, but perhaps if I put it in block capitals it will finally register. Step One: WHEN SAPIENS APPEARED, THE 1350cc WERE NEEDED. THE BRAIN WAS NOT OVERSIZED. Step two: ALL 1350 cc WERE USED TO MEET ALL REQUIREMENTS UNTIL – YOUR FIGURES – 245,000 YEARS LATER. Step 3: THE NEW REQUIREMENTS WOULD THEN HAVE REQUIRED FURTHER EXPANSION, BUT THE BRAIN DID NOT EXPAND. INSTEAD THERE WAS ENHANCED COMPLEXIFICATION. Step 4: ENHANCED COMPLEXIFICATION PROVED SO EFFICIENT THAT 150cc OF PREVIOUSLY ESSENTIAL CELLS WERE NO LONGER NEEDED, AND SO THEY WERE DISCARDED. HENCE SHRINKAGE.

DAVID: As for your nonsense about anatomical enlargement of the skull, six ounces of brain expansion in the somewhat globular skull would hardly add to hat sizes. Neanderthals handled their bigger brain easily.

We have no idea how much expansion beyond 1350cc the new factors would have required. Neanderthal brain shape and general anatomy were different from ours.