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Author Topic:   Can ToE explain human Brain development?
AnswersInGenitals
Member (Idle past 172 days)
Posts: 673
Joined: 07-20-2006


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Message 24 of 47 (529868)
10-10-2009 9:29 PM
Reply to: Message 3 by Peg
10-10-2009 4:44 AM


Associative Memory
peg writes:
They have discoved that Memory is not like a container that gradually fills up, it's more like a tree growing hooks onto which the memories are hung. Everything you remember is another set of hooks on which more new memories can be attached. So the capacity of memory keeps on growing. The more you know, the more you can know.
This is a technique known as Associative Memory and is quite commonly used in higher level computer languages and applications for the same reason it evolved in the human brain - it is an efficient way to search through closely related objects to find specific objects. This is how google does searches. The 'capacity of memory' does not keep growing - it is limited by the physical extent of the memory mechanism, ram or hard drive for computers, neurons and synapses for brains. Why in the world would you think that this mechanism is limited to human brains? Every animal from ants to elephants probably makes use of this mechanism.
You also seem to have the mistaken impression that the brain is a single organ with a single function, i. e., thought. Just as the chest cavity is made up of several distinct organs with distinct but interrelated functions, the brain is made up of at least twenty organs with distinct but related functions. The set of organs found in the human brain is exactly the same as the set found in chimpanzee brains, and in fact in all primate brains. Hell, it's even the same as the set found in dog, cat, and mouse brains.
If we are simply animals along a long evolutionary chain, we are no different to them and should not exhibit the traits we do.
This statement is self contradictory: If we are no different than other animals and have all the same traits, then there is no evolutionary 'chain'. One topic on which creationists and evolutionists seem to be able to agree is that all canines (dogs, wolves, foxes, dingos, and maybe hyenas) evolved from a single founder animal population or pair, probably something like the gray wolf (canis lupus). Creationists believe this evolution occurred over about 4000 years and believe so in an attempt to salvage the Noadic flood story. Evolutionists believe that this evolution occurred over a period of about 100,000 years and believe so because it's true. Now, what is more different, a gray wolf and a chihuahua or a human brain and a chimpanzee brain? Ok, there is currently no way to answer that since there are no comparable metrics, but it shows that the seven million years - about 500,000 generations - since the chimp and human ancestors diverged is certainly enough time for the differences we see in their respective brains.
Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Good message, terrible subtitle. Changed subtitle from "Sweetbreads anyone?" to "Associative Memory".

This message is a reply to:
 Message 3 by Peg, posted 10-10-2009 4:44 AM Peg has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 27 by Peg, posted 10-10-2009 10:31 PM AnswersInGenitals has not replied

  
AnswersInGenitals
Member (Idle past 172 days)
Posts: 673
Joined: 07-20-2006


Message 28 of 47 (529893)
10-10-2009 11:14 PM
Reply to: Message 25 by NosyNed
10-10-2009 9:50 PM


The source of all wisdom.
Out of curiosity, I checked on Peg's primary source, Peter Russell at Amazon.com and found that he has written the following books (not a complete list):
From Science to God: A Physicist's Journey into the Mystery of Consciousness
The TM Technique
Waking Up In Time: Finding Inner Peace In Times of Accelerating Change
Cosmic Conversations: Dialogues on the Nature of the Universe and the Search for Reality
The Brain Book (Plume)
The Global Brain: The Awakening Earth in a New Century
The Global Brain Awakens: Our Next Evolutionary Leap
The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, and Possibilities
The 2012 Mindshift: Meditations for Times of Accelerating Change
The TM Technique: An intro Transcendental Meditation Teachings Maharishi Mahesh YOgi (Arkana)
The Creative Manager: Finding Inner Vision and Wisdom in Uncertain Times (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)
MEDITATION: PATHS TO TRANQUILLITY
Awakening Earth: Our Next Evolutionary Leap
He also has translated and written extensively on the Upanishads. I believe these are all the same Peter Russell - seem to have the same subject nature and style. He doesn't appear to exactly be a neural scientist! And we see where Peg gravitates towards for her scientific enlightenment. I haven't read any of this stuff so I am being very judgmental but I think the titles speak for themselves. I had thought that Peg is a Jehovah's witness, but apparently she is a Vedit Hindu. More power to her.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 25 by NosyNed, posted 10-10-2009 9:50 PM NosyNed has not replied

  
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