Re: Gray/grey matters

[boddhisatva <foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                To whom....,



        I'd like to add something to the "grey matter" discussion.  I'm
surprised to hear the contention that the "cost" of developing a large brain,
or any other trait for that matter, must be paid for in every generation.
Genetic develpment of any one trait is enormously interwoven with the state
of the whole genome.  A large brain could well be an accidental sidebar to
some other trait development.  All manner of creatures have cumbersome and
useless appendages, etc., that are merely outgrowths of other more
selection-important genetic changes.  Furthermore, it's hard to see how an
ever-larger brain could have been a very BAD thing in the development of a
species.  The strict cost/benefit on a per trait basis, analysis strikes me
as a trifle capitalist.






        peace




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