NancyLebovitz comments on Open Thread, February 2011 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: David_Gerard 09 February 2011 04:01PM

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Comment author: NancyLebovitz 11 February 2011 12:30:37AM 2 points [-]

Remember: we grew this great big brain just to do tribal politics. We grew general intelligence as a better way to do tribal politics. We discovered quantum mechanics and built a huge technological civilisation as side-effects of a mechanism to do tribal politics better. So I'd say that stuff is likely important to dealing effectively with other people, i.e., winning.

You're sure the theory that the large brain is at least partly for precision throwing is wrong?

Comment author: wedrifid 11 February 2011 03:39:30AM 3 points [-]

You're sure the theory that the large brain is at least partly for precision throwing is wrong?

A very, very small 'part' perhaps. That sort of specialised behavior doesn't particularly need a massive cortex.

Comment author: Nornagest 11 February 2011 02:08:15AM *  1 point [-]

If anything, that's even worse news for nerds. It'd provide a handy evolutionary explanation for why basketball players tend to be popular, though.

Comment author: David_Gerard 11 February 2011 01:09:28PM -1 points [-]

Not sure in the least :-)