I had written:
Neoteny is postulated for Gen. 16. Neoteny is obvious to people whose business it is to preside over births. It is easy to see the difference between the easy birth of animmals and the difficult birth of the human baby and the greater difficulty the human baby has to get thru the birth canal.
I'm adding:
How does netoeny (caused by the rapid evolution of the brain) come to be considered in genesis. It's perfect, if you think about it. According to the fall, Adam and Eve eat the apple from the tree of the "knowledge" of good and evil. They must now "learn" to survive because they are no longer subsidized by God. Learning is paramount. It is the large rapidly evolving brain of the growing fetus that causes the problem of a fit thru the birth canal. The fall describes the difference between humans and animals. It is a difference in intelligence and behavior and also brain size which is correlated positively with intelligence, something which Gould denied in The Mismeasure of Man. But Gould also denied that religion could be studied scientifically in Non Overlapping Magisteria. What was he hiding?
The answer is in True Religion which is why I offer it.
rich
Received on Tue Jan 4 19:40:33 2005
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