Re: Are we "special"?
Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Tue, 17 Dec 96 01:43:45 GMT
In article <32B4B605.5F42@scn.org> bh162@scn.org "Phillip Bigelow" writes:
> Others, like Paul Crowley, have a fascination with looking at the
> problem from the "Wow! ain't we special!" side.
I most certainly do not look at the question like this.
There are serious scientific questions, such as "What were
the mechanisms which selected the approximately 100 million
beneficial mutations governing our CNS during the course of
our evolution?". Such questions are conspicuously ignored
by the PA community, principally because their current models
have not the slightest possibility of providing answers.
> Only two morphological features
> are distinctive gradational derivations from anthropoid primates:
> the re-arranged pelves, and greatly-enlarged frontal lobes of the neo-
> cortex.
> The gradationally- more complex behavior (emphasis on "gradationally")
> is just a result of the enlarged human brain.
Only an absurdly ignorant professional PA would dare to
suggest, or would find any approval from colleagues in
suggesting, that human behaviour is only "gradationally more
complex". Listing category differences is a trivial exercise.
If you put on blinkers of that size - about the object of your
study - how do you ever expect to do real science?
Paul.
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