>> Jim Foley writes:
>> <<No, it seems to me that it has a lot more in common with the Industrial
>> Revolution, except that it probably took a lot longer (talking about
>> 30,000 to 40,000 yrs here, not the Cambrian explosion). >>
>> Interesting insight, and well taken, though ultimately it may prove
>> too much. What NATURE does is a good deal different than what
>> INTELLIGENCE does. The Industrial Revolution was the product of
>> applied intelligence (e.g. Lavoisier, Berthollet, Eli Whitney).
Exactly my point. The "Cro-Magnon explosion", for want of a better
term, was a cultural event, powered by human intelligence (in my
interpretation). As far as we can tell, they were physically identical
to humans that had already existed for tens of thousands of years. It
wasn't an evolutionary event. They were no smarter than their less
technological predecessors, just as we are no smarter than people were
in the Middle Ages.
>> And you've not got the sudden appearance of modern man quite
>> right. It did not "take" 30,000 to 40,000 years. We're not talking
>> about US. We're talking about our ancestors. And they did, quite
>> literally from even an evolutionary standpoint, BURST onto the scene.
I worded that very badly. I meant that the Cro-Magnon cultural burst
occurred roughly between 40 and 30 thousand years ago. We don't know
the exact timing, but it's reasonable to assume it may have taken some
thousands of years (not necessarily 10000 yrs).
-- Jim Foley Symbios Logic, Fort CollinsJim.Foley@symbios.com (303) 223-5100 x9765* 1st 1.11 #4955 * "I am Homer of Borg! Prepare to be...OOooooo! Donuts!!!"