Re: Early humans swapped bite for brain

On 3/25/04 8:30 AM, "Gary Collins" <gwcollins@algol.co.uk> wrote:

> Here's an interesting effect of a single mutation:
>
> http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994817
>
> /Gary
>

Gary,

Thanks for the tip. This strikes me as but one example of how the discovery
of one new formational capability (a capability for a particular genetic
mutation) in the formational economy of the universe opens up a whole
roomful of ways for us to theorize about how the formational history of
humans might have taken place. In this case, one genetic mutation (affecting
the size of jaw muscles) experienced a tremendous positive feedback and led
to a radically new type of (large brained) creature.

When I propose, as I often do, that the universe does actually satisfy the
"Robust Formational Economy Principle," some people disparage it as nothing
more than "promissory-note naturalism" and others say that they "choke" on
it. Well, some people choke on beef tenderloin. Is that the fault of the
beef? Or, is the outcome of faulty chewing? Have some big-brained people
lost the ability to "chew" on ideas that call some traditional concepts into
question?

Howard Van Till
Received on Thu Mar 25 09:59:07 2004