I like the way you're approaching the problem. However, I think the temptation for a familiar conclusion is too great and that you might be missing some possibilities.
See:
A lot of this just boils down to having an acceptable style guide that an editor can enforce without worrying >too much about taking every issue to the author for approval.
The solution you're putting forth suggests that there needs to be a single person in charge of coalescing the many suggestions and edits.
But the great thing about version control is the ability to branch and tag...
Thanks for the help!
So this is the footnote:
...
- Neanderthals may have had larger brains than modern humans (Ponce de León et al. 2008) and it is an open question how much Neanderthals interbred with the ancestors of modern humans. It is possible that the marginal fitness returns on cognition have leveled off sharply enough that improvements in cognitive efficiency have shifted the total resource cost of brains downward rather than upward over very recent history. If true, this is not the same as Homo sapiens sapiens becoming stupider or even staying the same
Thank you Carl. I am having some difficulty navigating to that discussion. Can you provide a direct link?
Hominid brain size has not been increasing for at least the past 100,000 years. In fact, the range is tighter and median is lower for homo sapiens vs homo neanderthalensis.
Given that information, how does this change your explanation of your data?
The most important brain developments in the genus have come during the time when brain size was not increasing. This means that size can not be an explanatory variable.
Cheers, ZHD
Chris, I appreciate your zeal and the argument you've formed given the information you have. You have correctly pointed out a fundamental logic flaw with the "get a job you love" mentality, and your alternative is certainly worthy of consideration.
As rational agents, we should be inclined to pick a model which is more robust to empirical data (given the same degrees of freedom). From your post I infer that you are not an economist, so you might be unfamiliar with the "Easterlin Paradox," which shows that indeed wealthier people within ... (read more)