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Ben_Shapiro
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07 Sep 2009, 3:38 pm

Isnt it kind of incredible that we can think and absorb knowledge, I want to know how it came about that I ever got these abilities.



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07 Sep 2009, 4:01 pm

Well, I think that the best theory we have for the human ability to learn and think is that these qualities emerged from an process of selection for beneficial variation in genetics in which people ended up getting genes that promoted a mind that could both develop new ideas and learn from external information rather effectively.



ruveyn
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07 Sep 2009, 5:40 pm

Ben_Shapiro wrote:
Isnt it kind of incredible that we can think and absorb knowledge, I want to know how it came about that I ever got these abilities.


It is the three pound brain you carry about between your ears.

ruveyn



Sand
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07 Sep 2009, 8:51 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Ben_Shapiro wrote:
Isnt it kind of incredible that we can think and absorb knowledge, I want to know how it came about that I ever got these abilities.


It is the three pound brain you carry about between your ears.

ruveyn


Whose potential, evident even at this site, seems not even moderately approached.



ruveyn
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07 Sep 2009, 8:56 pm

Sand wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Ben_Shapiro wrote:
Isnt it kind of incredible that we can think and absorb knowledge, I want to know how it came about that I ever got these abilities.


It is the three pound brain you carry about between your ears.

ruveyn


Whose potential, evident even at this site, seems not even moderately approached.


Read a book on String Theory and you will come away with a completely different conclusion.

ruveyn



skafather84
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07 Sep 2009, 8:59 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Sand wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Ben_Shapiro wrote:
Isnt it kind of incredible that we can think and absorb knowledge, I want to know how it came about that I ever got these abilities.


It is the three pound brain you carry about between your ears.

ruveyn


Whose potential, evident even at this site, seems not even moderately approached.


Read a book on String Theory and you will come away with a completely different conclusion.

ruveyn



You obviously took a completely different view from string theory than I have....but of course, maybe that's because it's supposed to happen that way. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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Sand
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07 Sep 2009, 9:07 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Sand wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
Ben_Shapiro wrote:
Isnt it kind of incredible that we can think and absorb knowledge, I want to know how it came about that I ever got these abilities.


It is the three pound brain you carry about between your ears.

ruveyn


Whose potential, evident even at this site, seems not even moderately approached.


Read a book on String Theory and you will come away with a completely different conclusion.

ruveyn


At this point in string theory it is slightly more valid than the creation theories in the Bible but since neither have good validation Harry Potter is more entertaining.



ruveyn
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07 Sep 2009, 9:18 pm

Sand wrote:

At this point in string theory it is slightly more valid than the creation theories in the Bible but since neither have good validation Harry Potter is more entertaining.


Quite so. But the theory is very cogent testimony to the kind of complexity that human brains can accomplish. As a physical theory, it lacks empirical test. As a mathematical sculpture, it is gorgeous beauty.

ruveyn



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07 Sep 2009, 9:20 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Sand wrote:

At this point in string theory it is slightly more valid than the creation theories in the Bible but since neither have good validation Harry Potter is more entertaining.


Quite so. But the theory is very cogent testimony to the kind of complexity that human brains can accomplish. As a physical theory, it lacks empirical test. As a mathematical sculpture, it is gorgeous beauty.

ruveyn


And the same can be said about a good deal of theology which boils down to nonsense.



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07 Sep 2009, 11:59 pm

I may be off base here but the OP seems to indicate that thinking is a particularly unique human capability. That bump on top of your neck has parallels throughout the entire animal kingdom and was created by trial and error to be a gadget to see to the welfare of the entire organism. When it ceases to act on this primary function it gets destroyed along with the organism. All animals think and some do it better than others but nature sees to it that most nervous systems are adequate to that particular species. The human organism is an experiment to see if the thinking bump might be interesting if it went a bit wild and became suffused with the odd idea that the rest of the organism is merely a maintenance gadget for the bump, a reversal of natural order. This has produced some very strange results including a rapid success of environmental controls to the point of changing the entire planet's ecology so that it is on the verge of a mass extinction of a good deal of life on the planet. The amusing hubris of the thinking bump has dismissed this as of no prime importance and has the peculiar ability to ignore the inexorable coming disaster as of no consequence or even welcome it as some sort of supernatural event where those worthy will be beamed up to the most boring existence imaginable to suffer stupidity and slavery to an imaginary super fairy for eternity. It is beginning to become evident that evolution should look elsewhere for a sustainable life form with a somewhat more pragmatic intellect.



Arcadian
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08 Sep 2009, 1:59 am

Sand wrote:
I may be off base here but the OP seems to indicate that thinking is a particularly unique human capability. That bump on top of your neck has parallels throughout the entire animal kingdom and was created by trial and error to be a gadget to see to the welfare of the entire organism. When it ceases to act on this primary function it gets destroyed along with the organism. All animals think and some do it better than others but nature sees to it that most nervous systems are adequate to that particular species. The human organism is an experiment to see if the thinking bump might be interesting if it went a bit wild and became suffused with the odd idea that the rest of the organism is merely a maintenance gadget for the bump, a reversal of natural order. This has produced some very strange results including a rapid success of environmental controls to the point of changing the entire planet's ecology so that it is on the verge of a mass extinction of a good deal of life on the planet. The amusing hubris of the thinking bump has dismissed this as of no prime importance and has the peculiar ability to ignore the inexorable coming disaster as of no consequence or even welcome it as some sort of supernatural event where those worthy will be beamed up to the most boring existence imaginable to suffer stupidity and slavery to an imaginary super fairy for eternity. It is beginning to become evident that evolution should look elsewhere for a sustainable life form with a somewhat more pragmatic intellect.

but you forget, none of nature's experiments are instant successes, they take refinement, evolution doesn't have to look elsewhere, it just needs a way to show our bumps who's boss, at least until there finished



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08 Sep 2009, 2:13 am

Arcadian wrote:
Sand wrote:
I may be off base here but the OP seems to indicate that thinking is a particularly unique human capability. That bump on top of your neck has parallels throughout the entire animal kingdom and was created by trial and error to be a gadget to see to the welfare of the entire organism. When it ceases to act on this primary function it gets destroyed along with the organism. All animals think and some do it better than others but nature sees to it that most nervous systems are adequate to that particular species. The human organism is an experiment to see if the thinking bump might be interesting if it went a bit wild and became suffused with the odd idea that the rest of the organism is merely a maintenance gadget for the bump, a reversal of natural order. This has produced some very strange results including a rapid success of environmental controls to the point of changing the entire planet's ecology so that it is on the verge of a mass extinction of a good deal of life on the planet. The amusing hubris of the thinking bump has dismissed this as of no prime importance and has the peculiar ability to ignore the inexorable coming disaster as of no consequence or even welcome it as some sort of supernatural event where those worthy will be beamed up to the most boring existence imaginable to suffer stupidity and slavery to an imaginary super fairy for eternity. It is beginning to become evident that evolution should look elsewhere for a sustainable life form with a somewhat more pragmatic intellect.

but you forget, none of nature's experiments are instant successes, they take refinement, evolution doesn't have to look elsewhere, it just needs a way to show our bumps who's boss, at least until there finished


I have no idea what you mean by "there finished" There is no "until" in evolution. It is perceptibly active everywhere and when environment changes evolution attempts to counter it. Sometimes it manages and frequently it does not.



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08 Sep 2009, 2:22 am

Sand wrote:
Arcadian wrote:
Sand wrote:
I may be off base here but the OP seems to indicate that thinking is a particularly unique human capability. That bump on top of your neck has parallels throughout the entire animal kingdom and was created by trial and error to be a gadget to see to the welfare of the entire organism. When it ceases to act on this primary function it gets destroyed along with the organism. All animals think and some do it better than others but nature sees to it that most nervous systems are adequate to that particular species. The human organism is an experiment to see if the thinking bump might be interesting if it went a bit wild and became suffused with the odd idea that the rest of the organism is merely a maintenance gadget for the bump, a reversal of natural order. This has produced some very strange results including a rapid success of environmental controls to the point of changing the entire planet's ecology so that it is on the verge of a mass extinction of a good deal of life on the planet. The amusing hubris of the thinking bump has dismissed this as of no prime importance and has the peculiar ability to ignore the inexorable coming disaster as of no consequence or even welcome it as some sort of supernatural event where those worthy will be beamed up to the most boring existence imaginable to suffer stupidity and slavery to an imaginary super fairy for eternity. It is beginning to become evident that evolution should look elsewhere for a sustainable life form with a somewhat more pragmatic intellect.

but you forget, none of nature's experiments are instant successes, they take refinement, evolution doesn't have to look elsewhere, it just needs a way to show our bumps who's boss, at least until there finished


I have no idea what you mean by "there finished" There is no "until" in evolution. It is perceptibly active everywhere and when environment changes evolution attempts to counter it. Sometimes it manages and frequently it does not.
true, I made a mistake, but the point was that humanity is not wasted resources, we have potential, just less than the vast majority uses



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08 Sep 2009, 2:54 am

Arcadian wrote:
Sand wrote:
Arcadian wrote:
Sand wrote:
I may be off base here but the OP seems to indicate that thinking is a particularly unique human capability. That bump on top of your neck has parallels throughout the entire animal kingdom and was created by trial and error to be a gadget to see to the welfare of the entire organism. When it ceases to act on this primary function it gets destroyed along with the organism. All animals think and some do it better than others but nature sees to it that most nervous systems are adequate to that particular species. The human organism is an experiment to see if the thinking bump might be interesting if it went a bit wild and became suffused with the odd idea that the rest of the organism is merely a maintenance gadget for the bump, a reversal of natural order. This has produced some very strange results including a rapid success of environmental controls to the point of changing the entire planet's ecology so that it is on the verge of a mass extinction of a good deal of life on the planet. The amusing hubris of the thinking bump has dismissed this as of no prime importance and has the peculiar ability to ignore the inexorable coming disaster as of no consequence or even welcome it as some sort of supernatural event where those worthy will be beamed up to the most boring existence imaginable to suffer stupidity and slavery to an imaginary super fairy for eternity. It is beginning to become evident that evolution should look elsewhere for a sustainable life form with a somewhat more pragmatic intellect.

but you forget, none of nature's experiments are instant successes, they take refinement, evolution doesn't have to look elsewhere, it just needs a way to show our bumps who's boss, at least until there finished


I have no idea what you mean by "there finished" There is no "until" in evolution. It is perceptibly active everywhere and when environment changes evolution attempts to counter it. Sometimes it manages and frequently it does not.
true, I made a mistake, but the point was that humanity is not wasted resources, we have potential, just less than the vast majority uses


Anything alive has all sorts of potentials. It is on those potentials that evolution depends for future development. If humanity has great potentials in a particular direction and never capitalized upon them they might as well not exist. Evolution is merciless.



ruveyn
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08 Sep 2009, 5:42 am

Sand wrote:
Anything alive has all sorts of potentials. It is on those potentials that evolution depends for future development. If humanity has great potentials in a particular direction and never capitalized upon them they might as well not exist. Evolution is merciless.


I am sure the pigeons you love to feed have the potential to drop their turds on twice as many cars and statues than they already do.

ruveyn



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08 Sep 2009, 7:37 am

ruveyn wrote:
Sand wrote:
Anything alive has all sorts of potentials. It is on those potentials that evolution depends for future development. If humanity has great potentials in a particular direction and never capitalized upon them they might as well not exist. Evolution is merciless.


I am sure the pigeons you love to feed have the potential to drop their turds on twice as many cars and statues than they already do.

ruveyn


Which, of course, pigeons and I agree absolutely as to what statues and cars are for.