Critical Analysis



Critical Analysis

Introduction

The human being has a "super brain ", i.e. an arrangement of neurons, which are extremely efficient allowing it to multiply exponentially. Comparison of cerebral masses between chimpanzees and humans, which is of the order of 1 to 4, was able to provide two additional divisions of neurons, at least in certain brain regions. It is not certain, but it remains likely that, whatever the number of neurons, exists in humans, an increase in the number of connections (or synapses), which make the mental gymnastics of man out of proportion, in quantitative terms, with that of his ancestors. It is, in any case, seems to prove that in the prefrontal region of the human brain, there is a marked increase in the amount of “white substance” (i.e. fibers, those that enable connections between neurons), compared to what can be observed in other primates.

In addition, humans have benefited from increased cerebral. Man has evolved significantly and this tendency to render one of the hemispheres (usually the left, in the case the subject is right-handed) capable of processing developed discrete units, a feature that is ideal for handling units, syntactic and semantic language. For all these reasons, the human being became a virtuoso of language, along with the practice of language, which has become one of his pride. However, there is little modesty befitting here to this being very intelligent, but whose performance entities are hardly commensurate with his "super-brain". A modesty that should make him recognize that the particular language, which he excelled, was "invented" long before him, by changes in animals, although less intelligent.

Discussion

Cultural Change and Transmission

Cultural change and transmission in the evolution of human being is a result of transmission of knowledge. In animals, the “traditions” are mostly distributed in the same generation, while men seem to learn much from previous generations. This suggests that the lineage leading to Homo sapiens was selected because it used more and more the knowledge of the elders. In the eighties, American mathematicians and biologists Robert Boyd and Peter Richerson have explored the circumstances under which, natural selection favors different forms of information transmission. According to these models, a trend toward an increase in the transmission of culture from one generation to another is associated with a more consistent environment. It seems quite disconcerting at first, since there is no evidence of increased stability of ecosystems over the past million years (Valyear, 2007). However, the puzzle disappears when one assumes that human beings can shape the environmental stability. This gives them a greater ability than other organizations to build the conditions that favor the selection of culture. For example, people mitigate the natural variations of vital resources and living conditions in general.

The most important feature of human evolution is that culture and niche construction are mutually reinforcing culture that is passed between generations and changes the environment in a way that always favors the more. Niche construction, which uses this knowledge, becomes increasingly powerful. This is not an easy ...