From: Andrew Clough (aclough@mit.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 15 2003 - 17:18:10 MDT
At 10:49 AM 4/15/2003 +0930, you wrote:
> > spike66 wrote:
> > >> Spike wrote: >>perhaps adult
> > >>
> > >>> males which maintain some juvenile characteristics
> > >>> would enjoy a relatively greater appeal to the
> > >>> female population... Since human babies have relatively
> > large heads
> > >>> with respect to their bodies, perhaps female-
> > >>> choice societies would tend to evolve populations
> > >>> with bulbous heads. That is the best way I can
> > >>> explain how humans came to have such enormous
> > >>> brains
> > >
> > >
> > >> gts wrote:
> > >>
> > >> That's a pretty bizarre idea, spike, but at the moment I
> > can't think
> > >> of any
> > >> way to refute it.
> > >
> > >
> > > I didn't invent this notion. The idea is an outgrowth of
> > > theories presented in Geoffrey Miller's excellent work
> > > The Mating Mind.
> >
>
>It seems like a pretty strange idea that the neo-cortex would have evolved
>just to fill up space in a newly oversized skull. There'd have to be simpler
>ways to do that (like some spac-filler). The brain is a bit complex, after
>all. It seems like a silly idea to me.
>
>I have this weird notion that intelligence turned out to be a massive
>competitive advantage, especially long term in making the organism more
>adaptable. It seems to me that everything about humans is tuned to the
>service of a general intelligence; fingers instead of claws, a mouth evolved
>for speaking rather than devouring; a body which can travel pretty much
>anywhere, while being pretty mediocre in any terrain; no fur, because
>clothing is more immediately adaptable. The human form is a jack of all
>trades, master of none; it just has to be minimally proficient in any
>conceivable arena, and let the extraordinary mind think of ways to overcome
>lack of specific physical competitiveness.
>
>I'm just making that up, but it's always seemed obvious to me (often an
>indicator of being wrong). So is it wrong?
>
>Emlyn
Though I agree with you about the advantages of general intelligence, I
think that there are at least a few things ways that we have adapted that
help us use it. First, our eyes are better than those of any animal I can
think of. Sure, some birds of prey can discern movement at a greater
distance, but I believe that they don't have color vision. It seems to me
that sight and touch provide the most useful information for the purpose
intelligently manipulating the world, and I would guess that our lack of
hair is a great advantage to touch as well.
Our second advantage is bipedal locomotion. In addition to keeping our
head up high to use our long range eyesight and keeping our hands free, it
is more efficient than quadrupedal locomotion. I've heard that, though
humans can't keep up with most animals over a short distances, we can
travel distances over 200 miles faster than any other land animal. Of
course, being able to sweat, unlike most animals, probably has a lot to do
with that as well.
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. Don't assign
to stupidity what might be due to ignorance. And try not to assume you
opponent is the ignorant one-until you can show it isn't you.
-M.N. Plano
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