RE: [asa] Scientist's Study Of Brain Genes Sparks a Backlash

Has anyone drawn a connection between this research and the recent flap
over the brain size of Flores Man?

Jim Hofmann

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From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of RFaussette@aol.com
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 11:05 AM
To: janmatch@earthlink.net; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] Scientist's Study Of Brain Genes Sparks a Backlash

In a message dated 6/16/2006 1:19:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,
janmatch@earthlink.net writes:

        Scientist's Study Of Brain Genes Sparks a Backlash
        Wall Street Journal ^ | June 16, 2006 | Antonio Regalado
        Posted on 06/16/2006 12:32:09 PM EDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
        http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1650599/posts [refresh
browser]

Thanks for this interesting post. Here is a description of the studies.
If it is correct, civilization/culture and human evolution act
synergistically. The reason it is not PC is that this would suggest that
some populations are more evolved than others and this destroys the
notion, not of equal opportunity, but of equal phenotypic capability
across all populations. It would then suggest some cultures are more
adaptive than others, which D.S. Wilson also suggests in Darwin's
Cathedral. He writes:

"Most possible cultures are not adaptive, and we should hope for our own
sakes that a process exists for winnowing among the many possibilities,
leaving a subset that are at least somewhat well adapted to their
environments."

At the link below, a sentence reads:

"Lahn emphasized that it would not be correct to interpret the findings
as indicating that one ethnic group is more "evolved" than another."

http://www.hhmi.org/news/lahn4.html

[snip]

Human Brain Is Still Evolving

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers who have analyzed sequence
variations in two genes that regulate brain size in human populations
have found evidence that the human brain is still evolving.

They speculate that if the human species continues to survive, the human
brain may continue to evolve, driven by the pressures of natural
selection. Their data suggest that major variants in these genes arose
at roughly the same times as the origin of culture in human populations
as well as the advent of agriculture and written language.

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Received on Fri Jun 16 14:19:21 2006