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人腦大小系列
Brain Size Series 03 - Big Brains Not Always Better
將近三百萬年前,
我們的祖先擁有與現代黑猩猩一樣大小尺寸的大腦。
從那時起,人類的大腦穩定的增長,
體積增加成為原來的3倍。
但这种额外的颅骨容量可能不会导致更聪明的原始人。
就工具製造而言,幾乎沒有證據表明
在大腦發育的大部分時間裡有所改善。
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“考古學發現大腦的大小是逐漸變大的,但聰明是一步一步來的。”
2005年 2 月 18 日星期五,William H. Calvin 在華盛頓特區舉行的
美國科學促進會會議(American Association for the Advancement of
Science meeting)上說。
“但更大的大腦通常並不意味著更聰明的大腦。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“多虧了考古學家,我們才知道我們的祖先經歷了兩個時期,
每個時期都持續了超過一百萬年,儘管大腦體積逐漸增大,
但工具製造技術並沒有逐漸改進。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“在狩獵中,你必須在第一次就正確,否則晚餐就會跑掉,
但還有其他強大的候選者,例如在短句中使用單詞所需的大腦空間,”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“你需要類似的東西來進行廣泛的分享。 你必須跟踪誰欠誰什麼,以避免騙子。
這是一項類似於說誰對誰做了什麼的任務。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
問題是,無論驅動因素是什麼,
他們都沒有產生在工具製造技術中表現出來的普遍智慧。
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
對於越大越聰明越好的假設,更糟糕的是,
在 20 萬年前智人以我們大小的大腦在非洲行走之後,我們度過了——
除了少數例外——接下來的 15 萬年 做更多相同的事情。
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
“對於某些事情來說,越大越好可能是正確的,
比如與原始語言或共享或準確投擲相關的巨大回報,”
“但在人類進化的很長一段時間裡,一般智力可能沒有太大提高。”
“然而,當它最終實現時,結果是驚人的。
大約 75,000 到 50,000 年前的非洲開始出現創造力的爆發。”
項鍊和吊墜首先出現,然後是小雕像。
到35000年前,歐洲洞穴的牆壁上就有了繪畫,完整的透視圖。
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“大腦可能是 70,000 年前創造性爆炸所必需的,但它本身肯定是不夠的。”
那麼更大的大脑有什麼用呢?
促使我们在两耳之间留出更多空间的进化优势是什麼?
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
一個大腦袋可能通過提高他們的投擲準確性使我們的祖先成為更好的獵人。
或者也許它允許開發一種由三個單詞組成的句子的基本語言。
牛津大學的社會心理學家 羅賓·鄧巴 (Robin Dunbar) 甚至提出:
較大大腦中較高的記憶容量可能有助於早期原始人類
識別出沒有為社區盡其所能的貪圖便宜的人。
Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar FBA FRAI
(born 28 June 1947) is a British anthropologist and evolutionary
psychologist and a specialist in primate behaviour.
He is currently head of the Social and Evolutionary
Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of
Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
“這些微妙的進步都沒有導致行為上現代人類的出現。”
“如果你不能一次說出超過 2-3 個單詞的句子,而不像夏季飲料一樣
將它們全部混合在一起,那麼你可能也無法思考複雜的想法。”
“增加句子長度或進行多階段計劃需要了解結構。
此外,正是結構性創造力導致了工具和藝術的進步。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“這種創造力可能標誌著一整套高級智力功能的出現,
每一種功能都需要一些結構來將所有東西組合在一起,”
這種結構可能是通過反複試驗在早期人類語言和思想中發展起來的。
“我們即時發明了新的水平,”卡爾文說。
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“最明顯的是句法(syntax),它是使長句成為可能的線索。”
這項發明中的很多內容可能都是荒謬的,
但偶爾一個有創造力的成年人可能會嘗試一個新詞或新句法,
而一個孩子聽到它並開始將其融入他或她的語言中。
“隨著越來越多的孩子聽到結構化的句子並長大成為超級成年人,
長句語言會像傳染病一樣傳播,”卡爾文解釋道。
越來越複雜的合併歸因於文化和基因的結合。
卡爾文說:“行為會發明,然後會出現一些小的基因變化來改善它。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“智力的其他方面包括多階段計劃、邏輯鏈、具有任意規則的遊戲,
以及我們對發現隱藏模式的喜愛。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“在拼圖和填字遊戲、科學研究和開玩笑中都可以看到這種對事物
如何關系在一起的探索,很可能他們都共享一些神經機制來處理結構和判斷連貫性。
通過自然選擇改進一個,你也可以改進其他的。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“這些功能確實是舊事物的新用途,可能是構造運動的大腦機制。
他解釋說,困難在於控制新行為的質量。
你必須解決歧義並提高離線合奏的質量,以確保它掛在一起,然後再採取行動。”
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“你每天都會這樣做很多次,每當你說出你以前從未說過的句子時。”
他認為,正是結構化思維和提高其質量的結合才是人類沉思意識水平的全部。
華盛頓大學的神經生物學家 威廉·卡爾文 說:
William H. Calvin
(born April 30, 1939)
professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.
他想知道我們是否會進入第二次思想大爆炸。
通過基於實證方法的“更明智的教育”,加爾文假設我們可能會在下個世紀
看到創造性的繁榮,與上個世紀醫學的進步相媲美。
人腦大小系列
待續

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Brain Size Series 03 - Big Brains Not Always Better.pptx

Editor's Notes

  1. Brain Size Series 03 - Big Brains Not Always Better 人腦大小系列 03 - 大腦尺寸大不一定是更好
  2. Nearly three million years ago, our ancestors had brains about as big as modern chimps. Since then the brain that would become human grew steadily, tripling in size. But this extra cranium capacity may not have resulted in smarter hominids. 華盛頓特區 - 將近三百萬年前,我們的祖先擁有與現代黑猩猩一樣大的大腦。 從那時起,將成為人類的大腦穩步增長,體積增加了兩倍。 但这种额外的颅骨容量可能不会导致更聪明的原始人。
  3. But this extra cranium capacity may not have resulted in smarter hominids. 但这种额外的颅骨容量可能不会导致更聪明的原始人。 =============== Fig. 1. Differences in brain shape between a present-day human (left, in blue) and a Neandertal from La Chapelle-aux-Saints (right, in red). Endocasts are shown together with the triangulated landmark set used in this study and CT scan renderings of the crania.
  4. As far as tool-making is concerned, there is little evidence of improvement over much of the period that the brain was growing. 就工具製造而言,幾乎沒有證據表明在大腦發育的大部分時間裡有所改善。
  5. "Archaeology has found that brain size grew gradually, but cleverness took steps," said William Calvin, a neurobiologist from the University of Washington. 華盛頓大學的神經生物學家威廉·卡爾文說:“考古學發現大腦的大小是逐漸變大的,但聰明是一步一步來的。”
  6. "There was nothing like this before," Calvin said here Friday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C. “以前沒有這樣的事,”加爾文星期五在華盛頓特區舉行的美國科學促進會年會上說。 ================ “But bigger brains were not generally smarter brains,” said neurobiologist William H. Calvin at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Feb. 18. “但更大的大腦通常並不意味著更聰明的大腦,”2 月 18 日星期五,神經生物學家 William H. Calvin 在華盛頓特區舉行的美國科學促進會會議上說。
  7. “Thanks to the archaeologists, we know that our ancestors went through two periods, each lasting more than a million years, when toolmaking techniques didn’t gradually improve, despite a lot of gradual brain size increase.” “多虧了考古學家,我們才知道我們的祖先經歷了兩個時期,每個時期都持續了超過一百萬年,儘管大腦體積逐漸增大,但工具製造技術並沒有逐漸改進。”
  8. “In hunting, you have to be right the first time, or dinner runs away, but there are other strong candidates such as the brain space needed to use words in short sentences,” noted Calvin. “You need something similar for extensive sharing. You have to keep track of who owes what to whom, so as to avoid cheaters. And that’s a task similar to saying who did what to whom.” “在狩獵中,你必須在第一次就正確,否則晚餐就會跑掉,但還有其他強大的候選者,例如在短句中使用單詞所需的大腦空間,”卡爾文指出。 “你需要類似的東西來進行廣泛的分享。 你必須跟踪誰欠誰什麼,以避免騙子。 這是一項類似於說誰對誰做了什麼的任務。”
  9. “In hunting, you have to be right the first time, or dinner runs away, but there are other strong candidates such as the brain space needed to use words in short sentences,” noted Calvin. “You need something similar for extensive sharing. You have to keep track of who owes what to whom, so as to avoid cheaters. And that’s a task similar to saying who did what to whom.” “在狩獵中,你必須在第一次就正確,否則晚餐就會跑掉,但還有其他強大的候選者,例如在短句中使用單詞所需的大腦空間,”卡爾文指出。 “你需要類似的東西來進行廣泛的分享。 你必須跟踪誰欠誰什麼,以避免騙子。 這是一項類似於說誰對誰做了什麼的任務。”
  10. The problem is that, whatever the drivers were, they didn’t produce a general cleverness that showed up in toolmaking techniques. What’s even worse for the bigger-is-smarter-is-better hypothesis, Calvin said, is that after Homo sapiens was walking around Africa 200,000 years ago with a brain of our size, we spent – with a few exceptions – the next 150,000 years doing more of the same. 問題是,無論驅動因素是什麼,他們都沒有產生在工具製造技術中表現出來的普遍智慧。 加爾文說,對於越大越聰明越好的假設,更糟糕的是,在 20 萬年前智人以我們大小的大腦在非洲行走之後,我們度過了——除了少數例外——接下來的 15 萬年 做更多相同的事情。
  11. The problem is that, whatever the drivers were, they didn’t produce a general cleverness that showed up in toolmaking techniques. What’s even worse for the bigger-is-smarter-is-better hypothesis, Calvin said, is that after Homo sapiens was walking around Africa 200,000 years ago with a brain of our size, we spent – with a few exceptions – the next 150,000 years doing more of the same. 問題是,無論驅動因素是什麼,他們都沒有產生在工具製造技術中表現出來的普遍智慧。 加爾文說,對於越大越聰明越好的假設,更糟糕的是,在 20 萬年前智人以我們大小的大腦在非洲行走之後,我們度過了——除了少數例外——接下來的 15 萬年 做更多相同的事情。
  12. “So bigger is better may be true for something, say the big payoffs associated with protolanguage or sharing or accurate throwing,” he said. “But for long periods in human evolution, general intelligence may not have improved very much.” Yet when it finally did, the results were spectacular. Starting back about 75,000 to 50,000 years ago in Africa, there was a burst of creativity. Necklaces and pendants appear first, then figurines. By 35,000 years ago, there were paintings on the walls of European caves, complete with perspective. “對於某些事情來說,越大越好可能是正確的,比如與原始語言或共享或準確投擲相關的巨大回報,”他說。 “但在人類進化的很長一段時間裡,一般智力可能沒有太大提高。” 然而,當它最終實現時,結果是驚人的。 大約 75,000 到 50,000 年前的非洲開始出現創造力的爆發。 項鍊和吊墜首先出現,然後是小雕像。 到35000年前,歐洲洞穴的牆壁上就有了繪畫,完整的透視圖。
  13. It is hard to explain the Mind's Big Bang with a jump in skull size, seeing as Homo sapiens with modern-sized brains had already been around for 100,000 years or more before the tool and art revolution occurred. "The big brain was perhaps necessary for the creative explosion at 70,000 years ago, but it sure wasn't sufficient by itself," Calvin said. 很難用頭骨大小的跳躍來解釋思維大爆炸,因為在工具和藝術革命發生之前,擁有現代大小大腦的智人已經存在了 10 萬年或更長時間。 “大腦可能是 70,000 年前創造性爆炸所必需的,但它本身肯定是不夠的,”卡爾文說。
  14. So what was a larger brain good for? What was the evolutionary advantage that propelled our family tree to make more room between the ears? Calvin postulates that a big brain may have made our ancestors better hunters by improving their throwing accuracy. Or perhaps it allowed for the development of a rudimentary language of three-word sentences. 那麼更大的大脑有什麼用呢? 促使我們的家譜在兩耳之間留出更多空間的進化優勢是什麼? 卡爾文假設,一個大腦袋可能通過提高他們的投擲準確性使我們的祖先成為更好的獵人。 或者也許它允許開發一種由三個單詞組成的句子的基本語言。
  15. So what was a larger brain good for? What was the evolutionary advantage that propelled our family tree to make more room between the ears? Calvin postulates that a big brain may have made our ancestors better hunters by improving their throwing accuracy. Or perhaps it allowed for the development of a rudimentary language of three-word sentences. 那麼更大的大脑有什麼用呢? 促使我們的家譜在兩耳之間留出更多空間的進化優勢是什麼? 卡爾文假設,一個大腦袋可能通過提高他們的投擲準確性使我們的祖先成為更好的獵人。 或者也許它允許開發一種由三個單詞組成的句子的基本語言。
  16. The social psychologist Robin Dunbar has even suggested that the higher memory capacity in a bigger brain could have helped early hominids identify freeloaders who were not pulling their weight for the community. 社會心理學家羅賓·鄧巴 (Robin Dunbar) 甚至提出,較大大腦中較高的記憶容量可能有助於早期原始人類識別出沒有為社區盡其所能的貪圖便宜的人。 ======================== Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar FBA FRAI (born 28 June 1947)[9][10] is a British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist and a specialist in primate behaviour.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] He is currently head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.
  17. But none of these subtle advances, according to Calvin, led to the emergence of behaviorally modern humans. "If you can't speak sentences of more than 2-3 words at a time without them all blending together like a summer drink, you likely cannot think complicated thoughts either," he said. Increasing sentence length or doing multi-stage planning requires an understanding of structure. Moreover, it is structural creativity that led to advances in tools and art. 但根據加爾文的說法,這些微妙的進步都沒有導致行為上現代人類的出現。 他說:“如果你不能一次說出超過 2-3 個單詞的句子,而不像夏季飲料一樣將它們全部混合在一起,那麼你可能也無法思考複雜的想法。” 增加句子長度或進行多階段計劃需要了解結構。 此外,正是結構性創造力導致了工具和藝術的進步。
  18. “This creativity probably marks the emergence of the whole suite of higher intellectual functions, each of which requires some structuring to fit everything together,” he said. Most obvious is syntax, the clues that make long sentences possible. Other aspects of intellect include multi-stage planning, chains of logic, games with arbitrary rules, and our fondness for discovering hidden patterns. “這種創造力可能標誌著一整套高級智力功能的出現,每一種功能都需要一些結構來將所有東西組合在一起,”他說。 最明顯的是句法,它是使長句成為可能的線索。 智力的其他方麵包括多階段計劃、邏輯鏈、具有任意規則的遊戲,以及我們對發現隱藏模式的喜愛。
  19. This structure may have developed in early human language and thought through trial and error. "We invent new levels on the fly," Calvin said. 這種結構可能是通過反複試驗在早期人類語言和思想中發展起來的。 “我們即時發明了新的水平,”卡爾文說。
  20. “This creativity probably marks the emergence of the whole suite of higher intellectual functions, each of which requires some structuring to fit everything together,” he said. Most obvious is syntax, the clues that make long sentences possible. Other aspects of intellect include multi-stage planning, chains of logic, games with arbitrary rules, and our fondness for discovering hidden patterns. “這種創造力可能標誌著一整套高級智力功能的出現,每一種功能都需要一些結構來將所有東西組合在一起,”他說。 最明顯的是句法,它是使長句成為可能的線索。 智力的其他方麵包括多階段計劃、邏輯鏈、具有任意規則的遊戲,以及我們對發現隱藏模式的喜愛。
  21. A lot of this invention might be nonsensical, but occasionally an innovative adult might have tried out a new word or syntax, and a child heard it and began incorporating it into his or her language.
  22. A lot of this invention might be nonsensical, but occasionally an innovative adult might have tried out a new word or syntax, and a child heard it and began incorporating it into his or her language.
  23. A lot of this invention might be nonsensical, but occasionally an innovative adult might have tried out a new word or syntax, and a child heard it and began incorporating it into his or her language.
  24. “This creativity probably marks the emergence of the whole suite of higher intellectual functions, each of which requires some structuring to fit everything together,” he said. Most obvious is syntax, the clues that make long sentences possible. Other aspects of intellect include multi-stage planning, chains of logic, games with arbitrary rules, and our fondness for discovering hidden patterns. “這種創造力可能標誌著一整套高級智力功能的出現,每一種功能都需要一些結構來將所有東西組合在一起,”他說。 最明顯的是句法,它是使長句成為可能的線索。 智力的其他方麵包括多階段計劃、邏輯鏈、具有任意規則的遊戲,以及我們對發現隱藏模式的喜愛。
  25. “This search for how things hang together is what’s seen in doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles, in doing science, and in getting the joke,” Calvin explained. “It’s likely that they all are sharing some neural machinery for handling structure and judging coherence. Improve one by natural selection, and you may improve the others too. The free lunch is alive and well in biology.” “在拼圖和填字遊戲、科學研究和開玩笑中都可以看到這種對事物如何联系在一起的探索,”卡爾文解釋道。 “很可能他們都共享一些神經機制來處理結構和判斷連貫性。 通過自然選擇改進一個,你也可以改進其他的。 免費午餐在生物學中依然存在。”
  26. Those functions were really new uses for old things, Calvin said, probably the brain mechanisms for structuring movements. The difficulty came with controlling the quality of the novel behaviors, he explained. “You have to resolve the ambiguities and improve the quality of the ensemble offline, to make sure it hangs together, before you act on it,” Calvin said. “You do that many times a day, whenever you speak a sentence you’ve never spoken before.” It is that combination of structured thought and improving its quality that, he believes, is what human levels of contemplative consciousness are all about. 卡爾文說,這些功能確實是舊事物的新用途,可能是構造運動的大腦機制。 他解釋說,困難在於控制新行為的質量。 “你必須解決歧義並提高離線合奏的質量,以確保它掛在一起,然後再採取行動,”卡爾文說。 “你每天都會這樣做很多次,每當你說出你以前從未說過的句子時。” 他認為,正是結構化思維和提高其質量的結合才是人類沉思意識水平的全部。
  27. Those functions were really new uses for old things, Calvin said, probably the brain mechanisms for structuring movements. The difficulty came with controlling the quality of the novel behaviors, he explained. “You have to resolve the ambiguities and improve the quality of the ensemble offline, to make sure it hangs together, before you act on it,” Calvin said. “You do that many times a day, whenever you speak a sentence you’ve never spoken before.” It is that combination of structured thought and improving its quality that, he believes, is what human levels of contemplative consciousness are all about. 卡爾文說,這些功能確實是舊事物的新用途,可能是構造運動的大腦機制。 他解釋說,困難在於控制新行為的質量。 “你必須解決歧義並提高離線合奏的質量,以確保它掛在一起,然後再採取行動,”卡爾文說。 “你每天都會這樣做很多次,每當你說出你以前從未說過的句子時。” 他認為,正是結構化思維和提高其質量的結合才是人類沉思意識水平的全部。
  28. He wonders if we might be headed into a second big bang of the mind. With "better-informed education" based on empirical methods, Calvin postulated that we might see a creative flourishing in the coming century, comparable to the advances made in medicine of the past century.
  29. Brain Size Series