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dimossi
Skeptic Friend
USA
141 Posts |
 Posted - 01/24/2002 : 17:38:31
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Some friends and I were discussing evolution and there was some disagreement about a certain idea.
A few of us have stated that our brains haven't really evolved in 50,000 years or so and that if we were able to take a baby born 10,000 years ago and zap it to our present day and then raise it in a regular family, as any other child, that it would be mentally undistinguishable from other children.
A few in our group said they did not believe this would be the case. They stated that they believed that our brains have physically evolved in some way. We disagreed stating that our appearence to be smarter is just due to the cumulative knowledge that we have gained throughout history and knowing how to then apply that knowledge toward more advanced goals.
I would like to hear what you all think.
"Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy." [Carl Sagan]
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Donnie B.
Skeptic Friend
417 Posts |
 Posted - 01/24/2002 : 18:42:14 [Permalink]
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To the best of my knowledge, you're right and they're wrong. Biological evolution has changed us little in the last 50 Kyr.
I would, however, stipulate that the baby's mom must have had adequate nutrition during pregnancy, comparable to a modern diet (with no deficiencies in critical areas), but preferably with less fat. There definitely could be impacts on a developing fetus from problems with the mom's diet and other environmental conditions.
-- Donnie B.
Brian: "No, no! You have to think for yourselves!" Crowd: "Yes! We have to think for ourselves!" |
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2002 : 18:53:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
To the best of my knowledge, you're right and they're wrong. Biological evolution has changed us little in the last 50 Kyr.
That's the politically correct answer. We can't test what ever supposition we come up with but we do know that culturally about 12000 years ago humans who had migrated into Europe and Asia Minor underwent a massive change. That this change was the result of evolution (Ice Age) there can be little doubt. A threshold seems to have been reached.
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The brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain. Only evil will come from it. |
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Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2002 : 12:02:37 [Permalink]
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quote:
That's the politically correct answer. We can't test what ever supposition we come up with but we do know that culturally about 12000 years ago humans who had migrated into Europe and Asia Minor underwent a massive change. That this change was the result of evolution (Ice Age) there can be little doubt. A threshold seems to have been reached. [Slater]
That change was the invention of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent; the domestication and cultivation of wheat. A classic book on the subject is "The Ascent of Man" by Jacob Bronowski; Little, Brown & CO. c:1976. The end of the Ice Age brought about an explosion in the diversity of vegetation. Among this diversity were two hybrids of wild grasses that became what we know today as wheat. Why chase protein with a spear when you can harvest it with a sickle.
Man, the tool maker.
(:raig |
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Donnie B.
Skeptic Friend
417 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2002 : 13:55:19 [Permalink]
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To the best of my knowledge, homo sapiens was anatomically fully modern by some 150,000 years BP. Of course, we have no way to compare brain structure, but cranial size-wise, there has been no significant change since then.
Paleontologists take a rather long view of such things, and our current ideas are subject to revision as more data comes in. But in terms of the physical evidence we have now, there's nothing to indicate that we've evolved over that time. Acquired more knowledge and more complex behavior, yes; evolved physically, no.
What evidence can anyone point to that contradicts this?
Slater -- sometimes "politically correct" and "true" coincide.
-- Donnie B.
Brian: "No, no! You have to think for yourselves!" Crowd: "Yes! We have to think for ourselves!" |
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