Friday, August 24, 2007

Monday, August 20, 2007

Squirrel Obstacle Course




Question: Could the problem-solving skills used by habitual users of the course cause evolutionary pressure over long periods of time?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Exaptation


Early man, living on the savanna, evolved to throw a spear. Being able to successfully throw a spear allowed early humanity to hunt/gather more food, and thus a better chance to pass on the genetics that allow for well-thrown-spears. To throw a spear well, humans must be able to instinctively calculate to allow for wind, motion of target, up-hill, down-hill throws, etc.

As a side effect of being able to instinctively calculate a well-thrown spear (survival adaptation) when humanity later invents mathematics and trigonometry, humanity finds they have a built-in aptitude for this kind of thinking.

Exaptation = An unlooked for side effect of evolved behaviors.

An interesting side effect of this is that a larger right-brain (computation) makes for better antelope catching. The larger right brain allows for quicker instinctive calculation of prehistoric antelope artillery - making for quicker kills, more prosperous humans, and more reproduced genes to select from.

Further, it is easier for the genetic map to simply allow for a larger over-all brain, than simply a larger right brain. So consequently the left-brain (linguistics, imagination) also gets larger.

Ultimately the result is the evolution of poetic artillery-men. (*grin*)

Paraphrased from PZ Myers, Prof. Biology, University of Minnesota.


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Interesting notion. For a start, this theory starts to explain how behaviours may evolve that do not necessarily directly equate to passing on the genetic line - or may be an unlooked for result of that survival trait. Very interesting.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Why/How could Altruism "evolve"?


Quite simply: Altruism through protecting the young in spite of personal risk, alarm calling, and various other evolved behaviours have clearly demonstrated benefits for genetic pools.

If I were a....



Lego-man, Star-Trek Red Shirt.

(Hey, why not kill 2 birds with one (plastic) stone?)

;-)


http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mm2/