Is the fact that we were once fish but now have cognitive abilities & psychological traits fish don't not evidence of mental adaptation?
What do you mean by this? I'm sure you could explain clearly if you wanted to. Think about why you don't want to.
-
-
If you're just claiming that some traits emerge as by-products of others, of course. Cats probably fear cucumbers coz useful re: snakes.
-
it’s because some traits emerge as by-products of others that appeals to natural selection are vacuous
-
That's simplistic. We just have to say that we can't always be sure something is adaptive & not a by-product of something else
-
See. Conversation works much better when you say what you mean clearly in whole sentences.
-
The evidence that our brains have adapted is the evidence that our brains have evolved and evolution works by natural selection.
-
But whether a specific cognitive ability or psychological trait is an adaptation or by-product of something else is less certain.
-
it's unknowable
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
natural selection can't distinguish traits that cause fitness from traits that are merely correlated with traits that cause fitness
-
Agreed.
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.