Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

The “smaller game” theory of the human brain

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

As big game declined, we are told, humans had to get smarter to catch smaller prey:

The researchers posit that by killing off large animals, an abundant source of much-needed fat, Homo erectus, an ancient human species, was forced to move to chase smaller creatures — and the smaller they were, the more ingenuity it took to catch enough of them to meet dietary needs. This, in turn, selected for bigger and more capable brains in the species.

In a paper published on the peer-reviewed MDPI website, Miki Ben-Dor and Prof. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University presented their “unifying” hypothesis that the decline in prey size was the “one driver for many key physiological and cultural phenomena in human prehistory.”

Stuart Winer, “Israeli researchers offer new theory on human brain evolution: We were hungry” at Times of Israel

The paper is open access.

Hmmm. If the ability to hunt small prey requires a lot more intelligence, cats are definitely smarter than people, let alone smarter than dogs (a more frequently heard claim).

Note: In reality, the cat is very well adapted to living off small rodents. Natural endowments enable him to get by without a human level of intelligence. Of course, large numbers of cats prefer to live with humans and retain the begging skills they learned as kittens. It pays better than stalking mice full time.

A small selection of some more of the many theories about the human brain: Eating fat, not meat, led to bigger human type brains, say researchers. Theories of the evolution of the human brain are a war of trivial explanations that no one dare admit are too trivial for what they purport to explain. It’s like blaming World War II on indigestion, only monstrously bigger.

Earlier discussion of the fat theory.

Starchy food may have aided human brain development

Do big brains matter to human intelligence?

Human evolution: The war of trivial explanations

and

What great physicists have said about immateriality and consciousness

Comments
First, shadows are the reflection of our existence in the space. Then, our shadows overlap, intertwine, communicate. In this project, shadows are turned into subjective via representations of our mind states. Instead of being distorted by the source of light, the audience will be able to control their own shadows by wearing the headsets that collect EEG data from them and accordingly form fake shadows projected onto the ground beside them.adanewkirk
July 2, 2022
July
07
Jul
2
02
2022
03:44 AM
3
03
44
AM
PDT
A review helps me make an informed judgment before signing up for a new casino. You can make the same decision I did and play at this online casino after reading this article https://casinosanalyzer.com/online-casinos/onecasino.com . This platform, in my opinion, has an easy and fast withdrawal process, a big assortment of slot machines, and a cheap initial deposit requirement that meets my requirements.IvoryLawrance
May 1, 2022
May
05
May
1
01
2022
04:39 PM
4
04
39
PM
PDT
Thank you Polistra, that was great - my laugh for the day!Fasteddious
March 5, 2021
March
03
Mar
5
05
2021
02:49 PM
2
02
49
PM
PDT
It's remarkable that our natural selection 100k years ago changed every few years in unison with the dietary fads of 20th century science. When fat was taboo, our brain adapted to get more kale and avocado toast. When fat was mandatory, our brain adapted to get more fat. This tightly coupled timewarp must be caused by Spooky Quantum Action At A Distance. Faster than light particles called Dawkons carry current fads back to the Savannah Sabertooth Era.polistra
March 3, 2021
March
03
Mar
3
03
2021
12:08 AM
12
12
08
AM
PDT

Leave a Reply