Michael writes:

>Mr. Atmar:
>
>I receive the impression you're a primitivist. I say that because you
>responded briefly to my post regarding evolutionary development of
>neocortex and I lengthily responded back and expanded upon what I was
>trying to convey. You didn't respond back. Based on all this I'm
>surmising you draw little distinctions in the evolutionary development
>of the neocortex in mammals. Rather, you appear to look at the entire
>evolutionary development of mammals and appear to see no major
>evolutionary developments which led to the increased brain size of Homo
>genus. Is this accurate?

No. 

Perhaps worse, I believe that you're misusing the word "primitivist," or at
least using it some unusual fashion.



>If so, what do you base it on? Early mammals had a neocortex but their
>brains were smaller than us. So what area of the brain increased in
>size? Certainly the neocortex did.
>
>I can understand the importance of looking at our increased brain size
>in the context of the evolution of mammals but I don't see how the
>modern architecture of the human brain can be put on an equal footing
>with a chipmunk brain. 
>
>Granted, when I look at human behavior in the world it has much in
>common with other mammals. We are a mammal. One could even say the
>increase in our brain size and development of our neocortex has had
>little influence on altering our basic mammalian drives. Therefore, I
>don't think the advent of written language, cultural advances in science
>and technology, or civilization in general with its mores and laws is
>capable of altering our basic mammalian drives. Indeed, history has
>repeatedly shown all of these have been subordinated more or less to
>those mammalian drives. Only genetic engineering offers the possible
>means of altering these drives.

Your comments remind me very much of a Sidney Harris cartoon in American
Scientist a few years back. Two monkeys were sitting in a tree. One of them
said to the other, "I feel like I should be evolving into something better, but
I just don't know what."

I suspect that you will run up against the same philosophical wall when you
attempt to implement your grand plans.

Wirt Atmar
---
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 1/29/03 10:48:20 AM