Cutting edge training developed the human brain 80 000 years ago

Lund University ^ | June 20, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Making the cut ping.

[CodeToad]

They assume “training” made the brains and not that the brains provided the ability for the skills.

[brownsfan]

Why is it that educated guesses are presented as authoritative knowledge?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

About the time the last glacial maximum started.

[faucetman]

The only problem is the earth is only around 12,000 years old. Maybe less.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/media/video/ondemand/dating-fossils-and-rocks/dating-fossils-and-rocks

[Robert A Cook PE]

Well, technically speakin’ and all, a lot of this so-called the “cutting edge” training happened when hunter-warrior tribe 1 figgered out that hunter-gatherer tribe 2 was a good target for being on the receiving edge of cutting wedge technology version 1.5 .... And that communicatin’ the need to accurately get the “HELP” back to tribe 1 helped get help from tribe 1 to protect himself as he attacked tribe 2; thus language, writing, speech, etc.

Warfare IS evolutionary: Survival of the fitness requires that the fittest be mentally sharper as well. And, if you are not protecting those already born and those back at the house protecting and feeding your own youth, “you” won’t survive either. Thus, “civilized” behavior of charity, love, and forgiveness are required.

[KarlInOhio]

This social learning contributed to the subsequent development of early modern humans’ cognitive ability to express symbolism and abstract thoughts through their material culture, for example in the form of decorated objects.

Let's toss out everything we know from Darwin to Mendel to modern DNA analysis and bring back some Lamarckian inheritance where giraffes that stretch their necks out further have longer necked offspring.

[blueunicorn6]

I think they’re giving spear-tip making courses at Sylvan now.

[muawiyah]

Now that we know epigenetic processes exist, I suppose you could say Lamarck wasn't entirely wrong, nor was he correct.

The question is do we have any degree of conscious control of the super computers inside our DNA strands ~ so, let's say, I'm a frog and I start thinking "Hey, I could use a longer tongue" ~ visualizing it of course ~ and creeky machinery starts moving and a gene is identified for a duplication ~ and the next frogs down the line will have longer tongues.

At the moment no one has the slightest idea if the "outside world" has influence over the "inside world" other than through reproduction through sex and the relative death rates pertaining to the resultant ofspring.

On the other hand there may well be tremendous linkage of which we are simply not aware.

[frithguild]

Survival of the fitness requires that the fittest be mentally sharper as well.

The sharper tools win the spoils, making many sharper tool, Jr.'s.

[hellbender]

Maybe they didn't express it optimally, but the point could be that once technology first appeared, people who happened to have the innate mental talents for "engineering," geometrical visualization, and discipline had an advantage. In other words, nerds started to become respectable.

I think that mental evolution like this continued even through recent centuries, when the ability to plan and make things like water mills, wagons, guns, etc. gave someone an edge over peasants. The process is reversed when socialism rewards the indolent and stupid.

[KarlInOhio]

~ so, let's say, I'm a frog and I start thinking "Hey, I could use a longer tongue" ~ visualizing it of course ~ and creeky machinery starts moving and a gene is identified for a duplication ~ and the next frogs down the line will have longer tongues.

Should be easy to test. Take some animals and do a genetic analysis on them. Then feed the control group normally and make the experimental group work a little harder for their food (making the giraffes stretch their necks). Then compare each groups' sperm and eggs with each animal's original DNA. If there are specific changes, then that would point to Lamarckian effects on DNA.

[Matchett-PI]

"Why is it that educated guesses are presented as authoritative knowledge?"

Myths of the Tenured

[muawiyah]

One limitation on the "test" is going to be how often frogs think "outside the box". Could be a really slow rate.

At some point I think we need to find the mechanism that controls epigenetics.

[Tao Yin]

Selective breeding is more likely. Those in a tribe with the desired traits were more likely to breed. Those tribes with the most advanced were more likely to thrive.

Check out the history for the domestication of foxes. In 40 generations, wild foxes were transformed into tame, dog-like, creatures.

The article is poorly written. Training did not change their brain or their DNA; it was selective breeding over a long period of time.

[Elendur]

They assume “training” made the brains and not that the brains provided the ability for the skills.
///
agreed.

...i only agree with them, there was a “leap” in that time frame, after relative stagnation for 120,000 years.

so the event is clear, but the cause is debatable.

and i seem to recall that there was a near extinction event (for humans) around 74,000 years ago...

[Elendur]

They assume “training” made the brains and not that the brains provided the ability for the skills.
///
yep. just like they assume boys become boys, only because they play with trucks, not dolls...

(btw, my compliments to your tag line!!!)

[decimon]

Why is it that educated guesses are presented as authoritative knowledge?

Why do you assume that's the case? If a report includes qualifiers then it is panned for that.

Typical response to the qualifiers: "As soon as you see 'maybe,' 'could have,' etc., you know these so-called "scientists" don't know shite!"

[PapaBear3625]

They assume “training” made the brains and not that the brains provided the ability for the skills.

More accurately, having the ability to construct tools gave the toolmaker a big survival advantage over non-toolmakers, resulting in selection for toolmaking ability. The humans who couldn't master the skills died out and were replaced.