[ExI] [GRG] NewAbs: The Phenotype of IQ is Polygenic x 1, 000 Genes

[Damien Broderick]

On 8/10/2011 7:50 PM, Mike Dougherty wrote:

> Are they special in any other way than their relative novelty at the
> time of encoding?

Th obvious first guess is that they lay down the foundations of all your 
subsequent memories, and are therefore heavily redundant in the brain 
and the hardest to damage. But I was looking for an adaptation or 
exaptation account as a contender or at least player.

> Suppose your daily grind.  Not much new happens, so there's not a lot
> of "fresh" learning.  I kidnap you and take you to a new country that
> doesn't speak your language and leave you without money, without
> passport and without internet access.  You're smart enough to find
> your way home.  40 years later, I bet you are able to recover with
> surprising detail the travails of your ordeal.

Possibly so, and that's the kind of test I guess a neuroscientist would 
apply.

Anders, any thoughts on this?

Damien Broderick