Software Evolution of Man
by Donald E. Hester
on Apr 14
in Science
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Donald E. Hester
Husband, father, and adventurer. A computer science instructor who dabbles in t
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I was watching Digging for the Truth: Neanderthal! Episode 48. Here are a few notes I took during the program. The program was about the end of Neanderthal.
Neanderthal
- (1% of the genome mapped)
- Used tools
- Larger brain (not smarter)
- Humans did not descend from them
- Used fire
Cro-Magnon
- Used tools
- Cave painting
- Jewelry and beads
- Smaller brain (smarter)
- Humans descended from them
- Used fire
Common words used in the program, 'Probably', 'Might have', 'Possibly' or they would use absolute terms with pure speculation. Let's be honest there is no proof that the last Neanderthal died in a cave near Gibraltar. Yet a scientist on the show made that claim. I would accept a statement more along the lines of the following, ' Based upon available evidence it is possible or higher probability that the last Neanderthals may have died off near Gibraltar.'
One statement is intellectually honest the other is disingenuous at best. So are the statements artistic license? Is science now art? Open to individual interpretation and imagination?
There are other questions I have on evolution. Not to say it is wrong, I just questions. Let’s look at people as hardware and software. Hardware is our bodies and our soul or thoughts are our software. Now evolution is an explanation for the hardware but it has yet to explain our software? Think of this. How did our imagination evolve? How did love evolve? How did our inquisitive spirit evolve? We know that we define ourselves by our imagination, love and inquisitiveness. Have you ever seen a monkey make tools? How about math? Do monkeys sit around and wonder why the sun is in the sky and in 24 hours it is back where it was (almost). Do monkeys wonder about the meaning of life?
No primates use tools, or fire, paint or make jewelry. How did that evolve? Evolving from a primate to homo sapiens for the hardware seems simple enough. But, where and how did our soul or intellect evolve?
I find this passage in the Bible especially telling:
"Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being." - Genesis 2:7 HCSB
Strong's Hebrew 5397 נְשָׁמָה [nâshamah /nesh·aw·maw/] n f. From 5395; TWOT 1433a; GK 5972; 24 occurrences; AV translates as “breath” 17 times, “blast” three times, “spirit” twice, “inspiration” once, and “souls” once. 1 breath, spirit. 1a breath (of God). 1b breath (of man). 1c every breathing thing. 1d spirit (of man).
Taken from this passage is an ancient Kabbala tradition about how to make a golem. You have to form the body out of the clay and then insert a piece of paper with Hebrew word on it into the bodies mouth and then it will come alive. When I heard that I thought it sounded like putting an artificial intelligence program into a robot. You have the body which is easy enough to make. The hard part is the programming.
For evolution we have no answer on how our software evolved. For artificial intelligence we still can't program it for robots.
Just something to think about.
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