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From: bickel@nprdc.arpa (Steven Bickel)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Thought/Emotion/Feeling
Message-ID: <1192@arctic.nprdc.arpa>
Date: 16 Dec 88 21:07:07 GMT
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Reply-To: bickel@nprdc.arpa (Steven Bickel)
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
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In article <881@quintus.UUCP> ok@quintus.uucp (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
>It seems to be
>pretty solidly established that two things can substantially influence
>the IQ of an adult: nutrition as a child, and education.  (I am _not_
>saying that IQ is a satisfactory measure.)  Have there been substantial
>changes in human nutrition throughout history?  Too right there have!
>(One boundary between two culture periods in my home country is marked
>quite clearly by a difference in tooth & jaw wear in skeletons; and there
>is a well known sequence of population booms in Britain following the
>introduction of better plows & new food-stuffs.)  Is that likely to have
>had an effect on how smart the adults were?  Certainly it is!  Have there
>been substantial changes in the amount of education available to children
>and the content of that education?  Definitely!  Are some conceptual
>structures more effective than others?  Sure!  Has the course of human
>history been shaped by disease?  Read "Rats, Lice, and History"!
>Is there any evidence of some cognitive development since the appearance
>of homo sapiens sapiens which cannot be adequately accounted for by known
>"environmental" factors like these?  Let's hear of it!
>
>The time to go looking for speculative theories is when the theory
>you already have is breaking down.

   I think we are in complete agreement.

   Archeological evidence suggests - approximately 10,000 years ago 
   humans started living in villages, there were marked improvements in 
   agriculture and general nutritional stores, and there was the need and 
   environment for education because of the interpersonal communications 
   that go along with organized communities.

   :-) yes?  
   
   Are there any communities that existed much earlier than 10,000 years?

   By the way I asked a friend what the latest good reading is in anthropology
   etc.

   Eisler, R., The Chalice & the Blade, Harper & Row, 1988.
   ( Just opened it up - looks good!, lots of praise from peers.
     Concerned with why we are a warlike society from a
     gender relationship perspective. Eisler is also a believer in
     the cultural phenomena of Punctuated Equilibria).

   Eldredge & Gould, Punctuated Equilibria. (you already know of this one).


Steve Bickel