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I was fascinated by your post, but I had a couple of questions/comments. First, if the evolution of the neocortex was for predatorial reasons, then why are apes and monkeys (from whom we evolved from) not predatorial. Don’t they eat fruits/nuts and insects? I also remember in nutritional anthropology learning that the first humans were not hunters and gathers, but were scavengers who ate left over from other predators. Also, the instinctive behavior you mention in the end of your post about freezing in the face of danger doesn’t seem like predatory behavior but instinctive prey behavior. Therefore I’m not sure if that is the most accurate statement.

Secondly, Thinking about how the brain evolves makes me wonder what the possible outcomes could be. As a bachelor’s degree becomes the equivalent to a high school diploma, it seems that human’s are becoming smarter and learning more. Think what else we could evolve to learn to do or all the new functions we could evolve to have: seeing in the infrared and ultraviolet, hearing different pitches, etc. It makes me think of the X-men mutants that have special capabilities. I don’t think our brain is ever going to stop evolving and just like how newer and newer technology is being developed, our brains are going to evolve to be more and more innovative and functional and the thought of that is awesome.