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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Brumar89 who wrote (60435)10/16/2014 7:03:06 PM
From: Solon  Respond to of 69300
 
"Why would the brain of hunter-gatherers evolve a level of intelligence needed for calculus, computer programming, etc thousands of years before anything like that was done?"

Once a brain is capable of manipulating data, it can use that data to improve the ability to acquire information and to make improvements. This, combined with improved methods for accumulating, preserving, communicating, and passing knowledge forward, has led to all the abilities that you wish you had!

Hope this helps!



To: Brumar89 who wrote (60435)10/16/2014 8:50:36 PM
From: TigerPaw  Respond to of 69300
 
Why would the brain of hunter-gatherers evolve a level of intelligence needed for calculus...

The answer is that the hunter-gatherers evolved a brain characteristic that was useful for something they were doing at the time, perhaps figuring out terrain. It just happened - by accident- to also be useful for calculus.

For example the hunter gatherers evolved hands with opposable thumbs that were useful for holding a rock. By accident some discovered later that they could hold and manipulate a bow, or a rope, or a piano. That doesn't mean they evolved just so they could play the piano. Accident is not exactly the word I would use to describe that, but it was certainly unintended.