Re: Bipedalism and theorizing... was Re: Morgan and creationists
Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Mon, 16 Sep 96 21:13:50 GMT
In article <01bba363$900ecf00$152470c2@jdwaters.dircon.co.uk>
jdwaters@dircon.co.uk "John Waters" writes:
> In respect of your last paragraph Paul, you seem to be unaware
> that evolution is usually a very slow process. There would be no
> question of small mothers with slowly developing infants
> competing directly with larger females who had faster
> developers.
Well, let's get rid of "small" and "larger".
> . . . . There would be no
> question of .... mothers with slowly developing infants
> competing directly with .... females who had faster
> developers.
Why not? You are trying to duck the issue. Extending the period
does not help. Somehow infants with a longer altricial period had
an advantage. They began to predominate. So what was it?
(BTW, you're in the same position as nearly everyone else wrt this
issue. The standard answer is "larger brain size". But that
makes no sense within the time scale. The immediate disadvantages
of longer altriciality are immense; possible advantages are
uncertain, but very much long-term.)
Paul.
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