Introducing the brain: general (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, March 10, 2022, 13:38 (999 days ago) @ David Turell

New Study Changes Our Understanding of Human ... - Haaretz.com

dhw: The article suggests that the requirements for new abilities and technologies and enhanced communication (e.g. for hunting) led to changes in the frontal lobe. This is the direct opposite of two of your theories, as above. What is the dichotomy?

DAVID: We always disagree about the ability of a group of existing neurons to form a whole new-sized brain.

dhw: What “whole new-sized brain” are you talking about? Existing brains complexified and then expanded in stages. You accept that complexification is autonomous, but you want your God popping in every time to add new cells when, or rather BEFORE they are required. The article refutes your proposal that 1) the complexities of the frontal lobe originated with sapiens, and 2) that the brain changes took place before they were required. What is the dichotomy? (dhw's bold)

DAVID: So in your misinterpretation Broca's was not present before speech?

Of course it was present. I reproduced the quote that said it was present, and what its function may have been: "She also notes that the Broca area is involved in tool-making, and that all this begs the question: What kind of selection pressure may have been responsible for the reorganization of the human frontal lobes? Good question."
She suggests that the pressures were related to the need for “new capabilities and technologies” and enhanced communication, and her article explicitly refutes your two proposals I have bolded above. What was supposed to be a “dichotomy”, and what have I misinterpreted?

Memory formation

DAVID: It shows our brain is designed with neurons with specific functions for future use.

dhw: I think the article describes how different memories are formed, but of course there would not be much point in forming memories if we didn’t have the means of remembering them in the future!

DAVID: We came with memory ability, without which nothing could be accomplished.

dhw: Agreed. The same applies to all life forms. That does not mean that your God operated on pre-sapiens brains in order to give them extra cells that would not be used until some vague future time.

DAVID: That is exactly how it works.

Ah well... I’d have thought it would make more sense for new cells to be created in response to new needs rather than just to stick around for a few thousand years doing nothing. (Or 7 million years – see under “our special genes”.) I wonder if all your ID-ers agree with this theory of yours.