Some thoughts on the Difference between Neanderthals and Modern Humans

The recent paper Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex by Paola Villa and Wil Roebroeks reviews the archaeological literature and suggests that the evidence that the Neanderthals died out because they were in some way inferior to modern humans is weak. I wouldn’t claim to be any kind of expert in the assessment of the archaeology but I suspect there will be quite a lot of criticism from people who are sure we are superior.

Wednesday Science Limerick

There are rocks such as marble and slate
Which have been through a very hot state
A change metamorphic
In an underworld orphic
Under rocks of incredible weight.

Jan Brueghel - Orpheus visiting Hades

No Words are necessary ....

Some thoughts about Chomsky

Edmund Bolles is currently posting about Chomsky on Babel's Dawn - and this led to me finding the review of Chomsky's book The Science of Language by Christina Behme. This reminded me of the time, some 40 years ago when I first asked about the relevance of natural language to my research in "human friendly" computers - and on trying to relate what people actually did with my (admittedly limited) understanding of Chomskey I decided the area was not worth exploring. As a result I posted the following comment:

Your post has got me really excited, especially after reading Christiana Bohme’s review “A Potpourri of Chomskyan Science” of Chomsky’s “The Science of Language.” In the 1970’s I was involved in basic research into how one might build a “white box Computer” which would work well with people – in contrast with the “black box computers” we all take for granted. My problem was I was working in a strongly technology oriented environment with little relevant cross-disciplinary input. One aspect of my work involved two-way language communication between the white box and the human users. To get some ideas I turned to Chomsky, who seemed to be the acknowledged expert. I didn’t get very far as it was clear that what Chomsky was saying had very little relevance to what I was trying to do. I now understand why! It seems that I abandoned what were potentially good research ideas because I was fooled by a theoretician who had his head in the clouds and his feet a thousand feet off the ground.

I have also followed you link back to your earlier blog and the book by Benjamin Bergen “Louder than Words” and have put it on my ASAP reading list as it seems to mesh in well with my current research. Now that I am well and truly retired I have time to do the blue sky research spin-off from the long abandoned “white box computer” project.

In fact I hope in the next few weeks to get a detailed paper relating to the long abandoned project which shows that there are no significant differences in the way that human and animal brains store information and make decisions. No species evolves a brain which is bigger than it needs – and a major limiting factor is the cost of learning the knowledge the brain needs to “pay for its upkeep”. However there is a tipping point where, with the help of a simple proto-language, three things happen. The first is the “cost” of learning drops – so more information can be learn. The second is that the “storage” becomes more efficient – meaning that a brain of a given size can learn more. The third is that the first two make it possible to develop more sophisticated tools – and as the language is a tool it means that language can improve itself and become more efficient. Once this tipping point is reach there is a run-away development of “intelligence” involving a loop involving fast learning, more capacity to learn, and yet more powerful language – with no biological change in the brain being necessary.

We see what we expect to see - we hear what we expect to hear

The BPS Research Digest reports on research in which dollar notes were attached to a tree to see what people did - and a significant number of people never noticed them,

It makes me wonder - is there some similarity with the problem of confirmation bias - for instance when we read a text, or listen to someone speaking, the things we tend to notice are the passages which support our views. Whatever sense is operating the inputs are automatically optimised to extract features that are relevant to us at the time.

When did language Evolve

Adam Benton recently posted "When did Language evolve" on his blog Evoanth which looks at the latest information about the evolution of the hyoid bone, which is linked to the tongue and other muscles which are involved in speech.

Clearly there is a relationship between our ability to vocalise and our use of language - but a key question is what came first.  Did early humans use imitation animal calls to help in hunting and then use a feature that already existed to communicate - or did our vocal tract evolve because we were already using a simple language and a clearer voice make things better. If we think of it in terms of information flow one thing seems obvious - our ability to makes a wide range of sounds, with clicks, whistles and a wide frequency range is far more than is needed to support our natural language. In the animal kingdom a number of birds, such as the Myna bird,are very good at imitating the sounds it hears - and also has the Fox2 gene supposed to be responsible.

However my own feeling is that natural language is almost entirely due to cultural evolution and I posted the following comment to Adam's post.

Wednesday Science Limerick

Running two blogs and a web site takes time, and Hertfordshire Genealogy News and the associate genealogy web site have recently been so busy that this one has been neglected. I have decided to get this one buzzing again and one of the new features will be to post a science oriented limerick every Wednesday. So here goes:

Image from The Starburst Foundation

Galileo, convinced he was right,
Looked at stars through his scope every night,
But the Church said "Oh No"
Sun round Earth has to go
And forced him to say he was contrite.

Rural Relaxation - A heron at College Lake

A Heron at College Lake

A pleasant afternoon - not too warm - and it would be a waste to spend it simply sitting at a computer.  So off I go to College Lake, a disused chalk pit which as been transformed into a wonderful nature reserve run by BBOWT.

In fact today I was lazy and rather than taking a brisk walk round the reserve I spent half an hour or so looking at the wild life on the area of shallow water and islands called "The Marsh" from the main hide. I kept an eye out for the otter, which had visited the reserve a few days before - but I am sure that it has returned to the nearby canal, the Tring Reservoirs, or the water courses that exist in the Vale of Aylesbury.

I then spend a bit more time in the small cafe, in theory looking out over the reserve, but actually dozing off. Then home via the supermarket for the last of the weekend shop.

Other Pictures of College Lake.