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What does the passing of a basketball have to do with the evolution of the human brain? Read More
BB and the final four
Steven:
Nice post; but, didn't our prehistoric ancestors develop greater brain capacity much earlier than their spear throwing prowess? Hunting, especially the spear variety, came much later on the evolutionary scale and even then accounted only for an estimated 20 percent of the dietary consumption, with the remainder being made up of gathering. Are there not other reasons for the increased size and capacity?
BB and the final four
BB,
I think the original brain adaptation (that allowed for thinking into the future) was random. I think the added meat consumption (and 20 percent is a lot of protein considering the confines of a veggie diet) was driver for sexual selection. I also think that language development played a part, ascertain basic skills like storytelling and joke telling also require this kind of well-timed foresight. I think these things ended up working together and playing off each other. But you bring up a very good point about when this took place in evolution and the only thing I can think of is to send Dr. Calvin a note and see what he thinks....
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