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 hummermania00
Strange Son of aBitch
Registered: 04/07/07
Posts: 327
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
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 Evolution Of The Brain 
#7598505 - 11/05/07 03:18 PM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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OK, so while I was reading the OP for the thread "what i think god is"; my thoughts turned a little away from where the thread actually went. Hence, a new thread to tangent a little.
My opinion is that aside from the technical and scientific advances made in knowledge, and experience in those arts, the human brain remains largely unchanged over millennia, actually since recorded history.
I mean this in the emotional sense:
There is no difference in love expressed between 2 lovers in Mesopotamia long ago, and (your city) today.
There is no difference in the political treachery expressed with Caesar, and, say, Clinton's impeachment.
People love, hate, betray, defend, ignore, support, ally, the same way now as we have for many thousands of years.
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You are a fortunate person indeed, if you can begin each day accepting the fact that during that day there will be ups and downs, good breaks and bad ones, disappointments, surprises, and unexpected turns of events.
When you have solved all the mysteries of life you long for death, for it is but another mystery of life.
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 EternalCowabunga
Being of Great Significance
Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 7,029
Loc: Time and Space
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I've sometimes wondered if philosophies like Humanism and Existentialism really influenced the brain of man or whether they were nothing more than ideals which we might have thought we were reaching towards but just expressing the same old behaviors and then rationalizing them differently after the fact. I've got a lot of reading to do, I want to really educate myself on this
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hummermania00
Strange Son of aBitch
Registered: 04/07/07
Posts: 327
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
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Quote:
EternalCowabunga said:
I've sometimes wondered if philosophies like Humanism and Existentialism really influenced the brain of man or whether they were nothing more than ideals which we might have thought we were reaching towards but just expressing the same old behaviors and then rationalizing them differently after the fact. I've got a lot of reading to do, I want to really educate myself on this
Yes, and it seems that each generation thinks that they are really on to some earth shattering revelation in this regard, when in fact the emotions are the same.
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You are a fortunate person indeed, if you can begin each day accepting the fact that during that day there will be ups and downs, good breaks and bad ones, disappointments, surprises, and unexpected turns of events.
When you have solved all the mysteries of life you long for death, for it is but another mystery of life.
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trendal
J♠
Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,772
Loc: Ontario, Canada 
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Actually new findings are casting doubt on to the theory that human brains have not evolved much in the 2 million or so years that we've been around here.
One, in particular, catches my attention. There is a gene responsible (among other things) for the dramatic growth in brain size experienced those 2 million years ago. Without the gene, your brain size would not change much from a fetus on...you end up with a condition called "microencephaly".
There is a mutated form of that gene, which mutated about 6000 years ago - right about the time humans were starting cities. The mutated form is suspected of increasing intelligence by increasing the function of "helper cells" in your brain, as well as affecting the growth of new nerve cells.
Anyone who thinks evolution has just stopped working on us had better take a second look at the evidence 
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: trendal]
#7598878 - 11/05/07 05:15 PM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Difference between intelligence and emotional capacity. It's obvious that we have increased in intelligence over recorded history but emotionally we is ever the same.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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ZShroom
Stranger
Registered: 07/08/07
Posts: 1,061
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601303 - 11/06/07 04:26 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Difference between intelligence and emotional capacity. It's obvious that we have increased in intelligence over recorded history but emotionally we is ever the same.
 
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lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger
Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
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remember that for BILLIONS of years there was life on earth without any brain of any kind
the majority of the biomass today on earth has no brain
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 11 months, 1 day
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601367 - 11/06/07 05:43 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said:
It's obvious that we have increased in intelligence over recorded history but emotionally we is ever the same.
This is questionable. I think the advancement has simply been more gradual, I don't think that there has not been progress, and I think that we have reached a point in time where the rate of change in this regard will begin to advance more signfigantly. The exchange of information today is unparalleled compared to even a very short time ago, on our scale, and never before has humanity, as a whole, everywhere on this planet, been so interconnected. I think this implies a lot in regards to human evolution, behavior, and experience. 
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If I should die this very moment
I wouldn't fear
For I've never known completeness
Like being here
Wrapped in the warmth of you
Loving every breath of you
  
 
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hummermania00
Strange Son of aBitch
Registered: 04/07/07
Posts: 327
Last seen: 11 years, 5 months
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Quote:
fireworks_god said:
Quote:
Icelander said:
It's obvious that we have increased in intelligence over recorded history but emotionally we is ever the same.
This is questionable. I think the advancement has simply been more gradual, I don't think that there has not been progress, and I think that we have reached a point in time where the rate of change in this regard will begin to advance more signfigantly. The exchange of information today is unparalleled compared to even a very short time ago, on our scale, and never before has humanity, as a whole, everywhere on this planet, been so interconnected. I think this implies a lot in regards to human evolution, behavior, and experience.
It is entirely possible that emotional capacity would change over time as FWG alluded to; simply because of the amount of emotions we deal with daily, weekly, has increased. (and, true enough, will accelerate as the speed of information and knowledge advances)
Are you also suggesting that the emotional feelings themselves will somehow change; either increase or diminish in intensity, or for example that love and hate as we have know them, and know them today will somehow change?
Perhaps you could expand on your comment?
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You are a fortunate person indeed, if you can begin each day accepting the fact that during that day there will be ups and downs, good breaks and bad ones, disappointments, surprises, and unexpected turns of events.
When you have solved all the mysteries of life you long for death, for it is but another mystery of life.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Quote:
fireworks_god said:
Quote:
Icelander said:
It's obvious that we have increased in intelligence over recorded history but emotionally we is ever the same.
This is questionable. I think the advancement has simply been more gradual, I don't think that there has not been progress, and I think that we have reached a point in time where the rate of change in this regard will begin to advance more signfigantly. The exchange of information today is unparalleled compared to even a very short time ago, on our scale, and never before has humanity, as a whole, everywhere on this planet, been so interconnected. I think this implies a lot in regards to human evolution, behavior, and experience.
I see no evidence whatsoever for you stance on emotional evolution. So we exchange information faster? That's intelligence and has nothing to do with emotional health.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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trendal
J♠
Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,772
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601729 - 11/06/07 11:12 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said:
Difference between intelligence and emotional capacity. It's obvious that we have increased in intelligence over recorded history but emotionally we is ever the same.
Are we?
Isn't our emotion filtered through our intelligent brain? Could emotion even be "experienced", in the human way, without our intelligent cerebrum?
I don't think it can.
As our intellectual abilities develop, how our emotions are experienced must also change.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: trendal]
#7601731 - 11/06/07 11:13 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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First we feel, then we think about how we feel.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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trendal
J♠
Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,772
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601733 - 11/06/07 11:14 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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I see no evidence whatsoever for you stance on emotional evolution. So we exchange information faster? That's intelligence and has nothing to do with emotional health.
How can you separate the two so cleanly? Do you have two brains, one for emotion and one for intelligence?
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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trendal
J♠
Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,772
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601739 - 11/06/07 11:18 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said:
First we feel, then we think about how we feel.
How could it be any different? That does not mean that what we feel and what we think are two different things...just that one happens before another.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: trendal]
#7601740 - 11/06/07 11:18 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Mid brain (limbic) front brain (neo-cortex) both evolved seperately.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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trendal
J♠
Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,772
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601754 - 11/06/07 11:22 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Mid brain (limbic) front brain (neo-cortex) both evolved seperately.
My dear Icelander...did you just say that?
No part of our anatomy developed entirely separate from any other part. Two parts that are part of the same organ and right beside each other certainly did not "evolve separately".
The mid brain developed long before the neo-cortex did...long before there were mammals even...but it did not stop developing then. It continued to refine itself in combination with the developing neo-cortex.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: trendal]
#7601763 - 11/06/07 11:25 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Sorry, I meant developed seperately.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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trendal
J♠
Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,772
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601778 - 11/06/07 11:29 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Same thing.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.
But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: trendal]
#7601795 - 11/06/07 11:33 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Well if we had a mid brain before we had a front brain then we had emotions and didn't rationalize them. Now we do but IMO that changes nothing about the emotions. Show me some solid evidence of emotional evolution in humans in recorded history.
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"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.
" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.
With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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ApJunkie
part-time Ninja
Registered: 08/17/06
Posts: 2,735
Loc: Loc:Loc:Loc:Loc:Loc:
Last seen: 2 years, 3 months
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Re: Evolution Of The Brain [Re: Icelander]
#7601831 - 11/06/07 11:46 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Well, we used to make slaves battle to the death in giant arenas, now we don't even eat chickens without feeling guilty. Is that not emotional evolution?
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