Jim McGinn
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 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:59 am Post subject: Zero Chance |
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mark@spiznet.com (Spiznet) wrote in message news:<cb2e44af.0309091614.2885aa4f@posting.google.com>...
[quote]I wrote:
2) I think you are probably correct that conceptual language needed to
precede "tribal" links between separate bands of hominids. It probably
has something to do with "shamanism" and "animism", too. I hope you
can at least come away with the realization that this is unlikely to
have anything to do with the Cro-Magnon amHs in Europe circa 40Kya.
Well, its too bad we quit the topic, since this just appeared in
Evolutionary Psychology YAHOO group:
Digging into the brain
By Kristine Krug, in Salford
When and how did the human mind evolve?
[/quote]
The right question. But the wrong discipline. Anthropologists don>t
have a good enough understanding of evolutionary theory to ever get
anywhere on this question. There>s just way too much superstitious
thinking that has become dogma in the current paradigm and
anthropologists don>t have the intellectual background to avoid all
the potential pitfalls.
[quote]
These are two of the big questions researchers from the UK
universities of
Liverpool and Southampton will tackle from October.
They will undertake a project called Lucy To Language: The Archaeology
Of
The Social Brain.
It is being funding to the tune of one million pounds by the British
Academy, the largest single research grant the organisation has ever
handed
out.
[/quote]
They should save their money and read my posts here on SAP.
[quote]
The project will bring together archaeologists, evolutionary
psychologists,
social anthropologists, sociologists and linguists.
[/quote]
And they will spend all their time arguing with each other and never
get anywhere, just like here on SAP. Trust me, they literally have
zero chance.
[quote]
They will attempt to reconstruct the social lives of our ancestors -
to work
out precisely how they behaved using archaeological evidence of their
bones
and tools and making comparisons with modern humans and other
primates.
[/quote]
Worthless. This has already been done to death. The biggest
obstacles they will face are in their own heads.
[quote]
Mind over body
New models developed for understanding primate behaviour can now be
applied
to the hard evidence of our ancestors.
[/quote]
New models? Yeah right.
[quote]
This should help us better understand how our brains have developed
since
the famous early hominid called Lucy ( Australopithecus afarensis ),
who
lived in Africa about four million years ago.
It is not just that our brains are three times bigger than Lucy>s - it
is
the way we use them that stands us apart form her.
[/quote]
Obviously.
[quote]"Thirty years ago, evolution was mainly a question for
archaeologists,"
explained Professor John Gowlett, from Liverpool University.
Now, he said, the focus was shifting from bones and stones to the
social
brains of humans.
The multi-disciplinary team will seek the origins of speech, music and
worship.
[/quote]
Unless you understand the "nation-state" nature of human evolution
you>ll be wasting your time to pretend to approach these questions.
[quote]
"It is our minds not our bodies that make us human and enabled us to
achieve
what we have achieved," said Professor Robin Dunbar, also from
Liverpool,
who leads the project.
[/quote]
Dunbar is a smart guy. But he>s got zero chance. It>s not their
fault. The problems are inherit to the paradigm.
[quote]
Higher beings
Professor Gowlett will investigate the social interactions of our
ancestors
from traces of ancient fires. The size and distribution of ancient
hearths
and the artefacts found around them provide clues about the activities
of
early humans.
A main focus of the research will also be the creation and communal
practice
of religion.
Professor Dunbar said: "Social religion is one of the most complex
activities we engage in. Religion was born with Homo sapiens ."
[/quote]
[quote]
He believes religion probably first emerged between 200,000 and 50,000
years
ago.
[/quote]
No, it began to evolve 8 mya.
[quote]
The BA is the UK>s national academy for the humanities and the social
sciences, the counterpart to the Royal Society which exists to serve
the
natural sciences.
Its funding for the Lucy project will run over the next seven years
The researchers explained what they would be doing in the project at
the
British Association>s annual science festival, held this year at the
University of Salford, Greater Manchester.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/3095018.stm
Published: 2003/09/09 18:07:18 GMT
$1,000,000 pounds!
C>mon, Darth, doesn>t that sound tempting? (could raise your
spirits)...[/quote] |
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