Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

lewilliams's picture

The question of whether or

The question of whether or not the human brain could be considered a skyhook  or if it is merely a result of evolution is one that plagues me. Most of the time, I like to believe that it can be both simultaniously. We could easily have developed our unique conscious brain through some fluke of evolution and it still be the miracle that many of us consider it to be. I feel that we musthave evolved the minds we have now,though. An interesting subject I found relationg to this while writing my paper is that of the the  Pirahã,a Brazillian tribe that has a decidedly limited language. Because they do not have words for greater numbers than two (other than "many"), they do not appear to be able to count or truly understand greater numbers. This seems to point out that language has a large impact on human congnition or understanding and I feel that it must have had a large influence in the development of the brain.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
12 + 3 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.