John K Clark wrote
<snip> If I know a language nobody else does then yes, it's of no use to me,
but if I have language
> skills nobody else does it is useful to me. For example, dogs have no
language skills but we do and
> are able to communicate our wishes to them well enough to train them.
>..............
I agree. I think it would be a positive feedback. If Grunt the Neanderthal
had a slightly elevated IQ plus a slightly elevated language capacity than
Gronk, it would translate rapidly into Grunt's longivity/survivability over
Gronk. Grunt would train Gronk to associate sounds with actions (a more
robotic, pavlovs doggy thing) and then control outcomes eg. Go kill the
sabre tooth, Gronk.....woops well that didn't work. Similar selection on
procreation by control of the opposite sex's access could be practiced.
Voila......more little Grunts and less little Gronks......
col
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