The Real Reason for Brains

[wenshu]

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_wolpert_the_real_reason_for_brains.html

[David Jamieson]

I thought it was a trade for the tail...

so, irony there...

[ShaolinDan]

That was really interesting. Good explanation for the importance of dancing for reproduction. Also good justifications provided for learning all these dang fancy kung fu forms. Thanks, glad I took the time for that.

[Lee Chiang Po]

The guy is wrong. I can name a lot of animals that are totally stupid compared to humans that are far more graceful. Been what they are for longer than us and still stupid.
Everything came from the sea. Everything. Everything that evolved down the line had it's beginnings in the sea. Even us. Some creatures ended up going back to the sea, and some stayed and some came back to land. I think we were one of these that returned to land. We are primates, but look at us. Our backs are fairly straight, and our hands are flat, causing the opposing thumb. And look at our feet. They look like swim fins that have turned into club feet. Everything about us says so, even the lack of a fur or coarse hair covering. Because we had to stand upright it forced our hearts to pump harder to keep enough blood to the head. The next thing to occur would be the expansion of the skull and addition of gray matter to hold extra blood. So I think we just got lucky as hell here. We could still be running around sniffing of one anothers a$$. Just think about it. Every creature on this earth other than humans have their blood pumping on a horizontal plain. Their brains get enough blood to function normally so they remain the same. We didn't, so we sort of evolved into a bit more brain simply to hold some more blood, and of course it worked out that we could also store experiences and information in the additional gray matter.
Now this might sound silly, but then when you compare it to what that dude was saying it actually sounds better.

[wenshu]

It's not about why humans have larger more complex brains than other vertebrates, it is about why any animals have brains at all. To control complex movements.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/9365/catiy.jpg

The baseyian inference stuff is especailly interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_inference

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7471/bayesian.jpg

Instead of a tennis player imagine a boxer slipping a jab. . .

[David Jamieson]

Robert Fludd knew this... weird. lol

Look him up. :mad:

[Syn7]

I thought it was a trade for the tail...

so, irony there...

you dont have a tail???


reminds me of a funny story... another time tho...

[SoCo KungFu]

This isn't really about why brains exist. That's old news. Cephalization developed in concert with bilateral body symmetry allowing sensory organs to be focused in the direction of movement.

As opposed to say, jellyfish, which are radially symmetrical and simply project tentacles out in every direction, merely reacting when something (food) comes in contact.

This is more about how those mechanisms further evolved to allow a greater degree of spatial processing and prediction.

[wenshu]

That's a good point. The title of the presentation is misleading, aside from the very beginning he doesn't really discuss the why. The focus is on the difficulties in trying to understand and simulate movement decision processing.

[SoCo KungFu]

The guy is wrong. I can name a lot of animals that are totally stupid compared to humans that are far more graceful. Been what they are for longer than us and still stupid.
Everything came from the sea. Everything. Everything that evolved down the line had it's beginnings in the sea. Even us. Some creatures ended up going back to the sea, and some stayed and some came back to land. I think we were one of these that returned to land. We are primates, but look at us. Our backs are fairly straight, and our hands are flat, causing the opposing thumb. And look at our feet. They look like swim fins that have turned into club feet. Everything about us says so, even the lack of a fur or coarse hair covering. Because we had to stand upright it forced our hearts to pump harder to keep enough blood to the head. The next thing to occur would be the expansion of the skull and addition of gray matter to hold extra blood. So I think we just got lucky as hell here. We could still be running around sniffing of one anothers a$$. Just think about it. Every creature on this earth other than humans have their blood pumping on a horizontal plain. Their brains get enough blood to function normally so they remain the same. We didn't, so we sort of evolved into a bit more brain simply to hold some more blood, and of course it worked out that we could also store experiences and information in the additional gray matter.
Now this might sound silly, but then when you compare it to what that dude was saying it actually sounds better.

This is just wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start....

Gray matter stores blood? Really? Except your brain tissue never actually comes in contact with blood.

Blood volume reaching the brain is not an issue. That's why arteries are lined with smooth muscle to maintain adequate pressure.

Cranial expansion came about after reduction in zygomatic arch and jaw size. This corresponds to a shift from course herbaceous diet to one also consisting of animal products. This shift in diet coincides with a shortening of the digestive tract to more typical of meat eating animals. Along with this came a development of bipedalism facilitating greater traveling distances in search of kills to scavenge. Which causes greater heat accumulation requiring a larger brain to provide greater surface area for heat dispersion.

Nothing about what you said makes any sense. It sounds like you skipped biology in middle school to watch Little Mermaid...

[Lee Chiang Po]

This is just wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start....

Gray matter stores blood? Really? Except your brain tissue never actually comes in contact with blood.

Blood volume reaching the brain is not an issue. That's why arteries are lined with smooth muscle to maintain adequate pressure.

Cranial expansion came about after reduction in zygomatic arch and jaw size. This corresponds to a shift from course herbaceous diet to one also consisting of animal products. This shift in diet coincides with a shortening of the digestive tract to more typical of meat eating animals. Along with this came a development of bipedalism facilitating greater traveling distances in search of kills to scavenge. Which causes greater heat accumulation requiring a larger brain to provide greater surface area for heat dispersion.

Nothing about what you said makes any sense. It sounds like you skipped biology in middle school to watch Little Mermaid...

Is this why people have stokes when a blood clot prevents blood from feeding the brain? What you are suggesting is absolutely too radical. Evolution is simple. It always is. It is not as complex as you suggest. You would be surprised what I have studied. Besides, I bypassed most of middle school and actually graduated at age 14.

[Taixuquan99]

Middle school biology covers how much blood the brain uses?

Sweet Jebus!

[Scott R. Brown]

This is just wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start....

Gray matter stores blood? Really? Except your brain tissue never actually comes in contact with blood.

Blood volume reaching the brain is not an issue. That's why arteries are lined with smooth muscle to maintain adequate pressure.

Cranial expansion came about after reduction in zygomatic arch and jaw size. This corresponds to a shift from course herbaceous diet to one also consisting of animal products. This shift in diet coincides with a shortening of the digestive tract to more typical of meat eating animals. Along with this came a development of bipedalism facilitating greater traveling distances in search of kills to scavenge. Which causes greater heat accumulation requiring a larger brain to provide greater surface area for heat dispersion.

Nothing about what you said makes any sense. It sounds like you skipped biology in middle school to watch Little Mermaid...

Ha! Little Mermaid was NOT bipedal; so what is the evolutionary explanation for HER enlarged brain capacity!!

Not to mention her beautiful singing voice!

Ha Ha Ha!!!

GOT YOU THERE EINSTEIN!!! :p

[SoCo KungFu]

Is this why people have stokes when a blood clot prevents blood from feeding the brain? What you are suggesting is absolutely too radical. Evolution is simple. It always is. It is not as complex as you suggest. You would be surprised what I have studied. Besides, I bypassed most of middle school and actually graduated at age 14.

Oh good lord dude seriously? This is f'n basic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood-brain_barrier

Your school system sucked.

[wenshu]

Speaking of the blood brain barrier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaAvi_vz3sA

[Lucas]

the real reason we have brains:

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Science/images-2/zombie-eating-brains-2.jpg

zombie snacks