"Tim Tyler"  wrote in message 
news:cjptmu$28d9$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
>A rather sinister "criminal mastermind" paper.
>
> I figure a few of the folk here who are interested in the evolution
> of our large brains - or the biological basis of altruism will find
> it of some interest:
>
> ``Neocortex size predicts deception rate in primates''
>
> - http://calorierestriction.org/pmid/?n=15306289

That makes sense. Deception is much more demanding on the reasoning powers 
than honest behavior. It's a very obvious association when you think about 
it.

Such things tend to reverse the development of a trait like intelligence. 
Hypothetically, if a troop of chimps are overly clever and deceptive with 
each other, the overall fitness of the group may suffer.  A group of lesser 
intelligence may be more physically fit and able to displace the group from 
their territory.

It's possible that environmental conditions for early hominids were so 
demanding that reasoning power was the paramount factor driving our 
evolution.  Intense intra-species competition would be one explanation for 
the hyper-development of our intelligence in so short a time.  The principle 
of the "last one left standing"  would create selection pressures
that rival 
that of results obtained in modern breeding programs.
---
þ RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info{at}bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2áÿ* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 10/5/04 10:03:51 PM