[extropy-chat] thank evolution for the interstate highway system

[Don Dartfield]

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003, Mike Lorrey wrote:

> Making music, nor even religion, is not a function of conciousness.
> Birds make music all the time, and apes are known to use tools and make
> primitive art. Conciousness in man is not even thought to have developed
> (according to some) until after the invention of writing. Read Julian
> Jaynes' book The Origin of Conciousness in the Breakdown of the
> Bicameral Mind.

Yes, birds make music and apes use tools, but creating a musical
instrument (a flute, in particular) seems like a much more advanced thing
to do than sing like a bird or use a stick to fish out termites.  After
reading Steven Baxter's novel _Evolution_, though, I realize that even
this relatively sophisticated toolmaking does not necessarily indicate
full-fledged consciousness, or even consciousness at all.  So I'm
interested to read more.  The book you recommended will cost me $18 at 
Borders, though, since my local library doesn't have it -- is there any 
other book on the subject you'd recommend over this one, or is this the 
one I should go for?

> As above, neanderthals were not of higher intelligence.

Well, I said "given the superior intelligence of Sawyer's Neanderthals."  
In his trilogy, they WERE more intelligent than humans (or at least their
modern-day descendants were), regardless of whether they were in reality.  
Call it a suspension-of-disbelief thing.