Neumann, Johannes: The networked brain. A Darwinian explanation of the human mind, 2020
The original German edition was published in 2012 under the title Das vernetzte Gehirn. Eine darwinistische Erklärung des menschlichen Geistes.
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© 2020 Johannes Neumann
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ISBN 978-3-7526-5535-3
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In science, there is considerable consensus about the evolution of the human body. Charles Darwin asked about the missing link, in the evolution between our apish ancestors and today’s human beings. Like his research colleagues all over the world, the German paleoanthropologist Friedemann Schrenk is able to refer to a considerable number of bone findings from prehistoric and early humans. The findings began in 1856 with the remains of early humans that were found near Düsseldorf and named Neanderthals after their location at which they were found. In the meantime, countless finds were added; the skeleton of a link between monkey and human being was finally reconstructed from the fossilised remains of various individuals. Ardipithecus ramidus (Ardi), as this species was called by Tim White and his fellow explorers, was dated to an age of about 4.4 million years and was able to walk upright based on the foot bones found. Although the details of the human genealogical tree (or more accurately the human genealogical bush) are still the subject of fierce controversy and every new discovery requires corrections, the scientists involved are surprisingly unanimous on the fundamental issues. Molecular biology also plays an important role and has been able to confirm and supplement the results of spade research with genetic analyses, especially of humans and great apes living today.
While the physical evolution of humans has been clarified in principle, there is still great uncertainty about the development of the human mind, human consciousness, and the causes that have led to a human culture. Was it walking erect that gave the impetus? The use of tools? Language? The Canadian Merlin Donald believes he can prove that human culture and brain have developed together in co-evolution. The American Michael Tomasello, a researcher in Leipzig, believes that joint work and target-oriented joint activities were the decisive impulses on the path to a human culture. There are thus two exponents who worked out concepts for the evolution of the human mind: Donald from an idealistic philosophical perspective and Tomasello from a behavioural perspective. Both refer to Darwin’s theory of evolution and to the latest scientific findings on evolution. Both theories are particularly interesting and, in many ways, instructive, however neither of them has received the general recognition that would be comparable to the recognition of the physical evolution of human beings.
A new solution to the problem of the brain-mind evolution is presented below. To this end, it must first be asked why the previous attempts to find a solution are to be regarded as failures. It can be shown that all results to date have been based on the same approach to solving the issue. However, this proves to be unsustainable. In contrast to previous solutions, the evolution of the brain and the mind are treated separately. The text is divided into individual hypotheses, each of which succinctly formulates a point of argument and is then briefly explained.
Humans: a biological being
As a biological being, humans are part of nature and, like all other living beings, have developed over the course of evolution. The development of the human mind can therefore also only be explained appropriately on the basis of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Explanation:
In 1758 Carl von Linné incorporated man into his taxonomic work Systema Naturae, which is still fundamental today. He placed humans quite naturally next to their next animal relatives, the great apes, and summarised both in an order, which he later called primates (master animals). He defended himself against criticism related to this approach, arguing that he could find no significant difference between the skeletons of humans and those of apes1. Charles Darwin, who published his second major work on The Descent of Man (1871) after The Origin of Species (1859) referred to forerunners and allies of the theory of descent:
The conclusion that humans, like other species, descended from an old, deep, extinct form is by no means new. It was drawn long ago by Lamarck as well as later by several outstanding naturalists and philosophers such as Wallace, Lyell, Huxley, Vogt, Lubbock. Büchner, Rolle, and especially Ernst Haeckel.2
In the first chapter of The Descent of Man Darwin justifies the development of humans from the animal kingdom with a wealth of examples, based on the bodily structure and embryonic development of humans in comparison to higher animals – two topics for which there was sufficient material available at the time. Today, the results of paleontological research and molecular biology can also be used to justify human evolution from the animal kingdom. For this reason, human evolution in the sense of Darwin’s theory of evolution is one of the standard statements of modern science.
According to Darwin, the development of humans from the animal kingdom also includes the development of mental abilities in humans. He wrote:
If no organic being except for humans had any spiritual power, or if our powers were fundamentally different from those of animals, we would never be convinced that our high abilities had gradually developed. However, it can be shown that there really is no fundamental difference of this kind. One must admit that the gap between the intellectuality of a high-developed monkey and that of a lower fish, perhaps something like a lamprey or lancet fish, is much larger than the gap between monkeys and humans.3
Merlin Donald also advocates a strict materialistic model of the mind4. A central aspect of his considerations is the answer to the question of how human culture and the theory of evolution can be reconciled. His hypothesis, which I will return to below, is:
Our brain has developed in co-evolution with human culture and is especially adapted to life in a culture. Furthermore, the brain is designed to assimilate to its cognitive algorithms and informational structure. The conception of our brain seems to “suggest” the existence of a cultural storage system that ensures full development of the brain.5
According to the Darwinian theory of evolution, man’s mental abilities are also subject to the general view. There is still no generally accepted theory about how these mental abilities have developed with consciousness, language, and culture.
1 Palmer 2011,p. 160.
2 Darwin 2009, page 11.
3 Darwin 2009, p. 81.
4 Donald2008,p. 116.
5 Donald 2008, pp,15f.
Non-targeted evolution
According to Darwin, biological evolution is open-ended and not targeted. That means evolution cannot be understood in terms of its goal, instead in terms of its starting point. A causal chain of argumentation must be built up from the starting point. (Example: feathers were not created to allow the birds to fly.)
Explanation:
Ernst Mayr wrote about this in his great work, The Growth of Biological Thought:
Darwin’s theory uncompromisingly rejects the existence of definitive factor in the cause of evolutionary change...6
According to Darwin, there are 2 steps of evolution, the 1st being genetic variability, and the 2nd the natural selection in every generation of living beings. A long-term goal for evolution cannot be in any way pursued, since intermediate generations would have died out long before the goal could be achieved. The reason for this is that the half-finished organs, (e.g. half-finished feathers for flying) would not lead to selection success for the individuals that possess them.