Vigile Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 However, it is very interesting that the human brain 100,000 years ago was basically the same size it is today and how is it that nothing much happened until about 3,000 years ago? I always found that interesting as well, though I think civilization is around 10k IIRC. My best, uneducated guess, is that it has to do with tools. My theory is that the brain works like computer hardware and technology and language are the software that runs it. If you erased the hard drive on your PC and just ran DOS, your computer would be quite limited. Humans, I think might be like that. For eons they ran on DOS or lower. Today, just like computers with better operating systems, humans with a foundation of a couple thousand years of scientific discovery under their belts are kicking into overdrive and new technologies are being created every minute. For thousands of years man had fire and grunts, then the spear and a word or two, then the wheel and a few more words, not so different from Monkeys today who used sticks as tools to dig grubs out of tree knobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 The "Big Bang" of the brain happened when Homo sapiens (a cousin to Homo neandertalis) invented symbols. Jewelry, cave paintings, etc, about 50-60,000 years ago. Granted it was not a change in the brain size, there was a change in the actual brain structure. More valleys and ridges, and some centers grew bigger (like the section for language), while other centers compensated by shrinking (like the visual cortex, IIRC). So not bigger brain, but different brain. So far, no one has found evidence that Neanderthals had symbols, even though they most likely could speak and make some rudimentary tools and weapons. They also buried their dead, IIRC, but I think the H sapiens buried their dead with ornaments (first thoughts about afterlife?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melonies Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I have a similar view as chosendarkness. The best argument for believing in God is that it all somehow makes no sense otherwise. I want my life to have a sense other than the one I'm giving it. I can't stand the thought that how I live my life or whether I die tomorrow actually doesn't matter. Concepts like love and justice should not be mere artefacts of evolution. I dread the day when I succumb to a materialistic world view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKR Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 We spend a lot of time helping others ditch the dogma, and body-slamming the occasional preachy nutter, but I'm wondering which of the arguments actually makes you think. With me, it's the argument from complexity. I'm not denouncing Charlie D. or his theory, but this one makes me think. The amount of time and development to go from a single cell organism to say a temp-regulating mammal with a brain and all the interconnected body systems staggers my easily-staggered imagination. So, what is it for you. Which argument makes you think the most? None. Absolutely none at all. Not to get into an argument, but the complexity one doesn't do anything for me. This ignores the complexity of a creator. If something had the mind and the power to intentionally create the universe, would it not be a ridiculously complex subject itself? And if a god doesn't need a creator and could always exist, why is it less likely that a singularity from which the universe expanded always existed? No Christian argument or argument for a god of any sort every makes me think twice. They all lack evidence and don't really make any sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 However, it is very interesting that the human brain 100,000 years ago was basically the same size it is today and how is it that nothing much happened until about 3,000 years ago? I always found that interesting as well, though I think civilization is around 10k IIRC. My best, uneducated guess, is that it has to do with tools. My theory is that the brain works like computer hardware and technology and language are the software that runs it. If you erased the hard drive on your PC and just ran DOS, your computer would be quite limited. Humans, I think might be like that. For eons they ran on DOS or lower. Today, just like computers with better operating systems, humans with a foundation of a couple thousand years of scientific discovery under their belts are kicking into overdrive and new technologies are being created every minute. For thousands of years man had fire and grunts, then the spear and a word or two, then the wheel and a few more words, not so different from Monkeys today who used sticks as tools to dig grubs out of tree knobs. I don't know the answer, but I am reading a book right now called " The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest For What Makes Us Human" by V.S. Ramachandran. Its very interesting. I don't believe that Dr. Ramachandran advocates a God in this book, but reading it prompts me to think along these lines. I haven't finished it yet, so I can't really explain his theory. The book does point out in detail the amazing differences between the capabilities of our minds and that of the apes. There is a whole chapter on language that is very complicated and that I am trying to understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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