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Message:

> > DAVID: [i]You can couch it in any terms you wish but excess cells were on board the moment sapiens big brain arrived.[/i]
> > 
> > dhw: It is your theory that your God popped in to give us cells which we were no use. At the same time, you tell us that “[i]God added extra cells so we could tailor our brain to our free-willed new uses[/i].” If the extra cells enabled us to “tailor” our brain, how could they have been excessive?
> 
> Still trying to ignore the facts. I've changed and you don't notice. I've previously granted the cells which were eventually discarded may have had or did have light use 315,000 years ago. The extra neurons gave the complexity mechanism many alternate ways to form the new networks to fit our newly found uses as we developed new concrete and abstract thoughts, i.e., tailoring. So some of the extra were eventually used but the excess was discarded. Facts we clearly know. 
> 
> > dhw: we don’t know which cells BECAME excessive 250,000 years later, when enhanced complexification took over. Some of your post repeats the same muddle, 
> 
> It is not a muddle. We don't need to know which neurons were discarded to understand the  history and the logic of my explanation. The sapiens brain arrived bigger than it had to be to handle the eventual heavy use in the last 70,000 years. Some cells became excess. With my clear concept God added extra cells so we could tailor our brain to our free-willed new uses.[/i]
> > 
> > dhw: It matters because you keep claiming that your God gave us excessive cells 315,000 years ago. Yes, the brain ENDED UP with an excess, after complexification had rendered certain cells redundant, 
> 
> Yes our big brain arrived with excess, redundant cells. We agree.
> >   
> > dhw: [i]The hippocampus example tells us that even now the brain is capable of adding new neurons in response to new requirements, and so there is no reason to assume that it did not do precisely that in the past[/i].
> > 
> > DAVID: [i]All you can logically propose is previous brains could enlarge the hippocampus, but you want to stretch what we know.[/i]
> > 
> > dhw: Yes, my theory is an extrapolation from what we know: the current brain complexifies and expands autonomously in response to new requirements, and so it is not illogical to propose that it may have done the same in the past. On what knowledge do you base your theory that your God operated on past brains in order to insert unnecessary new cells for later use?
> 
> All we know and can theorize from is what we learn from our brain's history. Since past forms  tend to advance complexity, I assume past brains did what our brain does less complexly.
> > 
> > DAVID:[i] Do you think early sapiens discussed general relativity theory?[/i]
> > 
> > dhw: How do you know that no early sapiens ever wondered how we got here?[/i]
> > 
> > DAVID: [i]We know earlier sapiens had lots of Gods to cover all natural phenomena.[/i]
> > 
> > dhw: So why did you claim that there was “zilch” abstract thought?
> 
> No, I've agreed some minor abstract thought in early sapiens. Erectus, who knows.
> > 
> > dhw: [i] [b]And do you disagree that autonomous awareness of requirements and autonomous decision-making denote autonomous intelligence?[/b][/i]
> > 
> > DAVID: [i]My belief stands: God is only source of speciation and provided brains with the complexification instructions as information in the neurons' genomes. That provided the necessary automaticity.[/i]
> > 
> > dhw: NOT automaticity!!! Autonomy! And no matter how much you fiddle around with terms like instructions and information, what this boils down to is that the autonomy of cells is the result of your God providing brains with the mechanism that gave them their autonomy. That is the theistic version of my theory. Thank you for accepting it even though you think you have rejected it. Now perhaps you will answer the bolded question above.
> 
> God's instructions allowed the cells to have autonomous actions following the given information with the cells God-given decoding ability.