Saturday, May 10, 2014
Why did humans evolved a bigger brain, and so fast?
Why did humans evolved a bigger brain, and so fast?
Why did the human brain become so complex? Why did we learn to speak? Why do we have certain behaviours? Why did we become so intelligent? And how do our brains differ from a monkey’s or a dolphin’s?
Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution Kathleen R. Gibson, Kathleen Rita Gibson, Tim Ingold - 1994 - Preview - More editions
Looks at how humans have evolved complex behaviours such as language and culture.
Anthropologist John Tooby and psychologist Leda Cosmides note:
"Evolutionary psychology is the long-forestalled scientific attempt to assemble out of the disjointed, fragmentary, and mutually contradictory human disciplines a single, logically integrated research framework for the psychological, social, and behavioral sciences—a framework that not only incorporates the evolutionary sciences on a full and equal basis, but that systematically works out all of the revisions in existing belief and research practice that such a synthesis requires."[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology
Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of Brain and Language (Advances in Consciousness Research) [Paperback] by Prof. Dr. Maxim I. Stamenov, Prof. Dr. Vittorio Gallese
Mirror neurons and imitation learning as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution VS Ramachandran - ... The second big bang ... His experiments and the earlier invention of a sophisticated new language called mathematics in India in the first millennium AD (based ... He is author of the acclaimed book “Phantoms in the Brain” that has been translated into nine languages and formed ...
If human behavior could be scientifically established - then the 1000's of theories and special causes could be reduced to evidence based laws. (human nature) then all organized activity - education, military, business, religion, even unorganized politics and marketing, could come to common understandings of the basics, groups and tribes, old id, libido and ego and superego, leadership, science and magic, relationships - peace and war ... why not?
Compared to his hominid predecessors, Homo sapiens is a cerebral giant, ...There is considerable debate regarding whether the earliest anatomically modern humans behaved similarly to recent or existing humans. Modern human behaviors characteristic of recent humans includes a language, the capacity for abstract thought and the use of symbolism to express cultural creativity. There are two opposing hypotheses regarding the origins of modern behavior. Some scholars argue that humans achieved anatomical modernity first, around 200,000 years ago. Later, around 50,000 years ago, humans then adopted modern behaviors. This hypothesis is based on the record of fossils and biogenic substances from periods before 50,000 years ago[54][55] and the human artifacts found after 50,000 years ago.[56] Correspondingly, as stated by Paul Mellars, the view distinguishes anatomically modern humans from behaviorally modern humans.[57]
A swift expansion
Homo sapiens arrived in Europe some 45,000 years ago, from Africa. In less than 15,000 years, they managed to occupy the whole of Europe and Eurasia—an extremely rapid expansion. Neanderthals, on the other hand, were born of Europe, appearing on the continent more than 250,000 years ago, after their ancestors, Homo ergaster, had become established there 600,000 years earlier.
The term anatomically modern humans[1] (AMH) or anatomically modern Homo sapiens[2] (AMHS) refers in paleoanthropology to individual members of the species Homo sapiens with an appearance consistent with the range of phenotypes in modern humans.
Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic Homo sapiens in the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago.[3] The emergence of anatomically modern human marks the dawn of the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens,[4] i.e. the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes all modern humans.
The first early modern humans to be found were the Cro-Magnons in Europe. During the latter half of the 20th century, new finds from all over the world, like those quoted above and others greatly expanded our knowledge of the origin and spread of modern humans. The term Cro-Magnon was sometimes used for all of these, but has now been replaced by the term early modern humans in literature, the term Cro-Magnon now used for finds similar to the original find.[36][37]
The term "early" when applied to modern humans is usually restricted to finds from the upper Palaeolithic, ending about 10,000 years ago.[37] This coincides with the end of the last ice age, which also saw the end of the ice age megafauna. At this point the human population of the world switched from a culture of big game hunting to smaller game and later to agriculture.[42][43] With higher population densities, better tools and less demands for brute strength, people all over the world became less robust, resulting in the comparatively more gracile population of today.[44] Thus, anatomically modern humans can roughly be divided into two groups, the early (robust) and post-glacial (gracile) populations.
Why did the human brain become so complex? Why did we learn to speak? Why do we have certain behaviours? Why did we become so intelligent? And how do our brains differ from a monkey’s or a dolphin’s?
Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution Kathleen R. Gibson, Kathleen Rita Gibson, Tim Ingold - 1994 - Preview - More editions
Looks at how humans have evolved complex behaviours such as language and culture.
Anthropologist John Tooby and psychologist Leda Cosmides note:
"Evolutionary psychology is the long-forestalled scientific attempt to assemble out of the disjointed, fragmentary, and mutually contradictory human disciplines a single, logically integrated research framework for the psychological, social, and behavioral sciences—a framework that not only incorporates the evolutionary sciences on a full and equal basis, but that systematically works out all of the revisions in existing belief and research practice that such a synthesis requires."[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology
Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of Brain and Language (Advances in Consciousness Research) [Paperback] by Prof. Dr. Maxim I. Stamenov, Prof. Dr. Vittorio Gallese
Mirror neurons and imitation learning as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution VS Ramachandran - ... The second big bang ... His experiments and the earlier invention of a sophisticated new language called mathematics in India in the first millennium AD (based ... He is author of the acclaimed book “Phantoms in the Brain” that has been translated into nine languages and formed ...
If human behavior could be scientifically established - then the 1000's of theories and special causes could be reduced to evidence based laws. (human nature) then all organized activity - education, military, business, religion, even unorganized politics and marketing, could come to common understandings of the basics, groups and tribes, old id, libido and ego and superego, leadership, science and magic, relationships - peace and war ... why not?
Compared to his hominid predecessors, Homo sapiens is a cerebral giant, ...There is considerable debate regarding whether the earliest anatomically modern humans behaved similarly to recent or existing humans. Modern human behaviors characteristic of recent humans includes a language, the capacity for abstract thought and the use of symbolism to express cultural creativity. There are two opposing hypotheses regarding the origins of modern behavior. Some scholars argue that humans achieved anatomical modernity first, around 200,000 years ago. Later, around 50,000 years ago, humans then adopted modern behaviors. This hypothesis is based on the record of fossils and biogenic substances from periods before 50,000 years ago[54][55] and the human artifacts found after 50,000 years ago.[56] Correspondingly, as stated by Paul Mellars, the view distinguishes anatomically modern humans from behaviorally modern humans.[57]
A swift expansion
Homo sapiens arrived in Europe some 45,000 years ago, from Africa. In less than 15,000 years, they managed to occupy the whole of Europe and Eurasia—an extremely rapid expansion. Neanderthals, on the other hand, were born of Europe, appearing on the continent more than 250,000 years ago, after their ancestors, Homo ergaster, had become established there 600,000 years earlier.
The term anatomically modern humans[1] (AMH) or anatomically modern Homo sapiens[2] (AMHS) refers in paleoanthropology to individual members of the species Homo sapiens with an appearance consistent with the range of phenotypes in modern humans.
Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic Homo sapiens in the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago.[3] The emergence of anatomically modern human marks the dawn of the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens,[4] i.e. the subspecies of Homo sapiens that includes all modern humans.
The first early modern humans to be found were the Cro-Magnons in Europe. During the latter half of the 20th century, new finds from all over the world, like those quoted above and others greatly expanded our knowledge of the origin and spread of modern humans. The term Cro-Magnon was sometimes used for all of these, but has now been replaced by the term early modern humans in literature, the term Cro-Magnon now used for finds similar to the original find.[36][37]
The term "early" when applied to modern humans is usually restricted to finds from the upper Palaeolithic, ending about 10,000 years ago.[37] This coincides with the end of the last ice age, which also saw the end of the ice age megafauna. At this point the human population of the world switched from a culture of big game hunting to smaller game and later to agriculture.[42][43] With higher population densities, better tools and less demands for brute strength, people all over the world became less robust, resulting in the comparatively more gracile population of today.[44] Thus, anatomically modern humans can roughly be divided into two groups, the early (robust) and post-glacial (gracile) populations.
