{"id":382,"date":"2013-12-09T17:49:47","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T17:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/?p=763"},"modified":"2022-01-04T19:49:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T19:49:15","slug":"links-about-our-evolutionary-inheritance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/2013\/12\/09\/links-about-our-evolutionary-inheritance\/","title":{"rendered":"Links About Our Evolutionary Inheritance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1769\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/heritage.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"110\" height=\"110\" \/>This week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/14\/links-about-brain-anatomy\/\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">as we have before in this blog<\/span><\/span><\/a>, we are posting a set of links to pages on other web sites that discuss a subject covered in <em>The Brain from Top to Bottom<\/em>, along with brief descriptions of the content of those pages.<\/p>\n<p>The subject this week is the sub-topic \u201c<strong>Our Evolutionary Inheritance<\/strong>\u201d, under the topic \u201cEvolution and the Brain\u201d\u2014an important topic indeed, for as the geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975) wrote, \u201cNothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.\u201d And when it comes to neurobiology, that assertion is especially apt.<!--more--><br \/>\n<strong>Molecular Level <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ledevoir.com\/societe\/science-et-technologie\/231460\/ou-se-cache-la-vie-dans-l-univers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>O\u00f9 se cache la vie dans l&#8217;Univers ?<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span> (in French)<\/p>\n<p>A presentation on exobiology, the science that looks for life on other planets that are the same size as Earth and that may have conditions suitable for life to emerge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cellular Level<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/d_lien.gif\" alt=\"d_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seedmagazine.com\/news\/2009\/02\/the_evolution_of_life_in_60_se.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>The Evolution of Life in 60 Seconds<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In this experimental video that condenses 4.6 billion years of the history of the universe into a single minute, vertebrates make their appearance only in the last few seconds, and human beings in a brief flash at the very end.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong>Neurological Level <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/science\/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13176775\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Primates on Facebook<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The average number of \u201cFriends\u201d that people have on Facebook is about 120. This figure is roughly consistent with Dunbar\u2019s number: the maximum number of people with whom any one person can maintain meaningful social relationships, according to British evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar. But even on social media, we really exchange information with only about 10 to 25 other people.<\/p>\n<p>Dunbar calculated his number on the basis of human brain size and behaviour patterns in groups of non-human primates. According to Dunbar, most people\u2019s conversations are devoted to gossip about each other and about third parties, which <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/d\/d_10\/d_10_s\/d_10_s_lan\/d_10_s_lan.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">serves the same function as mutual grooming does in other primates<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Psychological Level <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindhacks.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/into_the_ancient_min.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Into the ancient mind<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Examples of <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/d\/d_05\/d_05_p\/d_05_p_her\/d_05_p_her.html#2\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">articles critiquing evolutionary psychology<\/span><\/a><\/span>, and in particular the \u201cstrong\u201d version proposing that selective pressures have caused humans to evolve specific \u201cmental modules\u201d to solve specific <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/i\/i_05\/i_05_p\/i_05_p_her\/i_05_p_her.html\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">problems that were the most important for the survival of our hunter-gatherer ancestors<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/culturevisuelle.org\/icones\/207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>M\u00e9tamorphoses de l\u2019\u00e9volution. Le r\u00e9cit d\u2019une image<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span> (in French)<\/p>\n<p>The fascinating story of the famous illustration \u201cThe March of Progress\u201d, depicting human evolution as a succession of hominid figures marching in single file, and the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/a\/a_05\/a_05_p\/a_05_p_her\/a_05_p_her.html#2\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">many parodies that have been made of it<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciam.com\/article.cfm?id=four-fallacies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Evolution of the Mind: 4 Fallacies of Psychology<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/i\/i_05\/i_05_p\/i_05_p_her\/i_05_p_her.html#2\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">More critiques<\/span><\/a><\/span> of the popular version of evolutionary psychology \u2014in this case, of four of its basic premises.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com\/bostonglobe\/ideas\/articles\/2009\/01\/04\/how_the_city_hurts_your_brain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>How the city hurts your brain &#8230;And what you can do about it<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The human brain did not evolve in the overpopulated urban environments in which most people now live, and as a result, the stresses of urban living impair some of our most basic cognitive processes.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/a_rec.gif\" alt=\"a_rec\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/david-sloan-wilson\/science-evolution-and-cur_b_129452.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Science, Evolution, and Current Human Affairs<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>To get a better understanding of the points on which they disagree, evolutionary biologists and other scientists must sometimes return to more general considerations about science, evolution, and current human affairs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Social Level <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ledevoir.com\/non-classe\/242818\/la-vigilance-critique-envers-le-creationnisme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>La vigilance critique envers le cr\u00e9ationnisme<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span> (in French)<\/p>\n<p>This article sounds a warning about a view of human nature called <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/d\/d_05\/d_05_s\/d_05_s_her\/d_05_s_her.html\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"> creationism<\/span><\/a><\/span>, which is based on faith but tries to pass itself off as a scientific theory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, as we have before in this blog, we are posting a set of links to pages on other web sites that discuss a subject covered in The Brain from Top to Bottom, along with brief descriptions of the content of those pages. The subject this week is the sub-topic \u201cOur Evolutionary Inheritance\u201d, under [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[72],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":999,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions\/999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}