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

by David Turell , Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 17:46 (1311 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Not ignoring, but different interpretation: the extra cells allow a greater degree of complexity by having more neurons to work with from the start.

dhw: You are stating the blindly obvious, and ignoring the point that the only brain we know operates by RESPONDING to new requirements. It does not change in anticipation of new requirements, which is the reason you give for brain expansion.

You are still ignoring the fact that sapiens arrived with 150 cc more volume than needed. Our brain now responds to new use because of fact the extra size/neurons permitted complexification to select from the excess.

DAVID: I was only showing you complex use uses lots more brain than simpler use, a truism you constantly ignore.

dhw: I responded to your point that early sapiens’ lifestyle hardly differed from erectus, which according to you means that the newly expanded brain contained excess cells that were only used later. I pointed out that according to my theory, the improvements that required additional cells (e.g. the design, making and use of the spear) would not have changed the lifestyle. The hunter with a spear is still a hunter.

And with little more brain usage. You support my point.

DAVID: The advantage of the extra cells I presented above, to allow the greatest degree of complexity to cover all new current needs as efficiently as possible.

dhw: You’ve got it! In ALL cases of expansion including our own, the extra (not excessive) cells covered the new need, and then all current needs, through complexification.

They were still in excess until shrinkage in recent times. Always an excess until discarded.

DAVID: Because it is a matter of interpretation of what our brain contains: the special cortical organization of five neuron tiers is only ours and came by a recombination of an available extra number of neurons, by God's design.

dhw: There is no dispute over what our brain contains, and yes indeed, as I keep telling you, it is the enhanced ability to complexify (recombination of the neurons that had existed and been in use for 250,000 years) that enabled sapiens to meet all the new requirements.

There is no evidence the excess cells were used for 250,000 years and then discarded. When not chosen for complexity they were dropped.

DAVID: We do not know when this special arrangement of five tiers of neurons happened, but based on the evidence of how sapiens easily developed brain use and lifestyle, starting with language 70,000 years ago our brain is obviously very different I would then guess even from Neanderthal's bigger one. It is not size. It is complexity that makes the difference. Adler's point fits.

dhw: No one is denying that our brain is “very different”, and it has taken you a long time to stop harping on about size and to accept the point that I have been making ever since this discussion began: sapiens, like every other homo before him, would have used all the cells of his expanded brain until 250,000 years ago, when the brain could expand no further, and so ENHANCED COMPLEXIFICATION TOOK OVER (and rendered previously essential cells redundant). You’ve got it at last: in our case it is not size but complexity that makes the difference.

Large areas of the brain were not used 315,000 years ago. The official theory is when language appeared it required the recruitment of several brain areas to develop and tie to each other in stronger networking fashion. Same with all other developments. We had a brain wanting for developments, no matter how hard you obfuscate with verbiage about total brain use 315,000 years ago. At least I use current theory