Let's assume that the development of the brain like ours in a primate began about 300.000 years ago. Then it needed another 100.000 years to get a shape of the brain, which resembles our brain shape.
Multiple lines of evidence from paleoanthropology, archeology, and genetics are informative about the evolution of the brain and behavior in the Homo sapiens lineage,
but there is no consensus about the tempo and mode of these biological and behavioral changes. Whatever tempo, it has been a long, long learning process.
The greatest discovery in history is the brain that discovers its own existence. Let me speculate a little about how this may have happened.
Every day you go to the pool to drink and see your face in the water, but you ignore it because you know it does not mean danger.
Then one day you get into a fierce fight with a rival and your face is hurt. You have a deep scar on your cheek.
As usual, you go to the pool to drink and there is something different: the face in the pool has a big scar on his cheek.
You touch the fear and see a hand touching the fear and suddenly you realize: face here .... face in water,,,,, and self-awareness arises in humanoids.
This may have been a slow process among groups of individuals. But what is the next step of the brain? It must have been the discovery of the concept of WHY?
With this concept the accumulation of knowledge begins. The next concept must have been WHAT IS....? Maybe it was first WHAT and then WHY.
You see it in young children. They first discover their own toes, then the rest of the world and after a few years they drive you crazy with questions like Why is the moon round?
We entered the history of knowledge 40.000 years ago, a time from which we have evidence that prehistoric man had expanded the what/why question to a search for patterns.
This deepened at the moment around 3200 BC man learned to write and thus could store data. We have seen a number of examples/
Quantitative patterns were discovered and turned into mathematics and qualitative patterns were discovered by using the IF.....THEN...construction, which was effective in astronomy, law or medicines.
A strong point of the patterns was that you also cloud use them to predict things. IF < event > THEN <consequence >. Knowledge moved from descriptive to prescriptive.
While there is a proliferation of patterns in early antiquity, principles are only used even very little and then mainly in legal science.
There are, however, indications for a certain awareness of principles: the underlying mathematical principle
for generating new Pythagorean trifles must have been known to the Babylonians, as well as the legal principles
of retribution, replacement and repayment which were needed to determine the punishment or reimbursement at new cases and finally
the principle of probabilistic reasoning in medicine without which no diagnoses based on incomplete information wouldn't be possible.
But it remains a question whether they were aware of these principles or that it was no more than an old and traditional way of acting. where you could speak of the use of 'implicit' principles.
We find the most powerful evidence for an early principle in mathematics, without which the generation of Pythagorean trifles is impossible.
Unfortunately, a clay tablet has been submitted that explicitly mentions the relevant principle. Maybe homo sapiens was still too practical and pragmatic to spend time on developing underlying theories.
Thank you for your attention again....
The Discussion
[13:18] herman Bergson: The main them of today is that you see the discovery of numerous patterns by Egyptians, Babylonians, but no theoretical underpinning
[13:18] herman Bergson: Patterns are observed..and then there it stops....
[13:19] herman Bergson: As if the brain still has to learn deeper and more abstract thinking
[13:19] CB Axel: Could that be because the patterns were put there by God so there was no need to look any further?
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): They see there is but can not understand why
[13:20] herman Bergson: At least there was no urge to explain and investigate the underlying principles...indeed CB
[13:20] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:21] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): or they weren't allowed to ask questions
[13:21] herman Bergson: Besides ...most of the clay tablets deal with harvests, land and practical things like that
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): no time for math and science
[13:22] herman Bergson: Ever read the books of Aubel, Tribe of the Cave bear...or what the English title may be
[13:22] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes
[13:23] herman Bergson: It tells about the life of prehistoric tribe...
[13:23] CB Axel: so they were just interested in the practicalities of what they observed than in the whys.
[13:23] CB Axel: It was "Clan of the Cave Bear" in English. I never read them.
[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): food is very important for a tribe
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:23] herman Bergson: Only the medicine man knew how to count...it was forbidden for the members of the tribe to try it
[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): keeping the people alive
[13:24] herman Bergson: Ahh Thank you CB
[13:24] CB Axel: But early man was more interested in surviving from day to day than in figuring out why the patterns they saw were there.
[13:24] herman Bergson: It looks like those Babylonians were pretty practical people
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): I guess that can be the case
[13:25] CB Axel: Herman, even later than that the Catholic church used Latin so that only the priests could understand the writings.
[13:25] herman Bergson: True CB :-)
[13:25] CB Axel: Everyone else had to get their religion handed to them by those priests.
[13:26] CB Axel: Thet weren't encouraged to read and think for themselves.
[13:26] herman Bergson: Till the Reformation....1550 or so....
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:27] herman Bergson: But that is a different chapter of history
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Gutenberg!
[13:27] herman Bergson: To begin with Bejiita
[13:27] CB Axel: Right. Martin Luther and Johannes Gutenberg ruined everything for the priests.
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Books books and MORE books!
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:28] CB Axel: Yes, Bejiita, but also books in languages other than Latin.
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the printing press was a really important invention indeed
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yep
[13:29] herman Bergson: The next step mankind had to take around 1500 BC was the step to theoretical and abstract thinking
[13:29] herman Bergson: That will be our next station :-)
[13:30] CB Axel: That will be interesting.
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): since and the WHY part of everything, not just "ok there is something, so what? Dnt have time for that"
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and then just leave it
[13:31] herman Bergson: If you think about it.....this ability of homo sapiens to ask WHY.......the moment he discovered that must have been a historic one....
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and also a step away from god and to how things mikght really work, Gravity, magnetism ect
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and the church got VEEERY mad!
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:33] herman Bergson: OK...next Thusrsday we'll discover where the search for principles underlying the patterns started....
[13:33] herman Bergson: Unless you still have an unanswered question...........?
[13:34] CB Axel: Thank you, Herman and class.
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:34] herman Bergson: Thank you all again for your participation ^_^
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): great again
[13:34] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): good subject
[13:34] herman Bergson: Class dismissed....
[13:34] herman Bergson: Thank you Bejiiita
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
No comments:
Post a Comment