Anthony Cerrato wrote:

> The Ascent of Mind (Bantam 1990) on the ice
> ages and how human intelligence evolved; the 
> "throwing theory" is one aspect. See:
> 
> http://williamcalvin.com/bk5/bk5.htm
> 
> The idea that, the earliest attempts at rock 
> throwing (and crude estimations of future 
> trajectories etc.) led the human brain's 
> organization to develop and refine itself into 
> a larger and "what-if" modeling organ makes a 
> lotta sense to me. (Paragraph 8, above web ref.) 

I think this notion that throwing could or would--in and of 
itself--lead to (select for) a more intelligent and/or a 
more human intellect is mostly nonsense.  There's a lot 
more to human "what-if" modeling than can be explained by 
a shift to projectile oriented behaviors alone.  

In my model a shift to rock-throwing stick-wielding behaviors 
occurred concurrently with a shift to larger groups living in 
more permanent settlements.  Their survival through an 
annually recurring dry season was dependent on their ability 
to maintain the resources at these permanent settlements.  
Mob oriented rock throwing, stick wielding, or what can be 
more simply described as human vs. migratory species war, was 
the strategy that emerged to prevent inmigrating mammals from 
depleting these resources.

Moreover, projectile oriented behaviors could only have been 
effective if undertaken by relatively large groups of our 
earliest chimpanzee-like ancestors.  And even if it is 
undertaken by relatively large groups it could only be 
effective if the end any large group of A'piths was trying to 
achieve involved maintenance of territorial claims.  Nothing 
else fits.  We certainly wouldn't want to imagine A'pith being 
effective hunters with sticks and stones and we wouldn't want 
to imagine rock throwing would spring up as a means by which 
individuals--or even smaller groups--would avoid predation.  
(However, I can see how it would be part of how larger groups 
would avoid predation.)

The development of human intellect can be better explained by 
the shift to the larger social groups associated with this 
model than it can be explained by rock-throwing, 
stick-wielding in and of itself.

Jim
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