#64 Dark Matter. SciFi. Morality, Earth Music. China. Tipping Point < Mammal Intelligence < Neocortex > Group Size, & Lang. 08.1.4=5-3.30=7 7pm.

'Flipping particle ..> missing antimatter' Mar18,08 http://tinyurl.com/2neyhm
dark matter, 3/7/08: http://tinyurl.com/24zdf3
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'Insect 'spies' fitted with video camera implants' Mar6,08 http://tinyurl.com/2z9aa6
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'The 10 Most Prophetic Sci-Fi Movies Ever' Mar28,08 http://tinyurl.com/2vrbqu
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Iraq War: 'Accomplice to Murder', L.M. Vance 2/25/08 http://tinyurl.com/2385sp
'...MLKing...Antiwar and Economic Justice Activism' 2/28/08 http://tinyurl.com/2w4clx
'WFBuckley...1969 Debate...Noam Chomsky on Vietnam' 2/28/08 http://tinyurl.com/yupprr

a Monopoly on 'Moral Conscience'? http://tinyurl.com/2z533k
'Only Anarchists Are Really Conservative' "Looking Homeward, America": http://tinyurl.com/yrdpuj
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'On...China, Sudan...Olympics' China e-Lobby 2/20/08: http://tinyurl.com/28r7yq

Strategic Forecasting logo
'China: Guanxi and Corporate Security', By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart ; Stratfor, January 16, 2008
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'Music special: The roots of music' 2/20/2008: http://tinyurl.com/2dscjt
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Earth's Buddhist Music: http://tinyurl.com/333at3
:' The internal 'orchestra' of the earth ', By Billy Baker, Globe Correspondent / January 21, 2008

'Scientists Scan Striking Nanoscale Images' E Cole 2.15.08 http://tinyurl.com/2thkj4
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Linguistic Terrorism of English-Only Laws: http://tinyurl.com/2bhfly
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Bio-Altruism: Edward O Wilson, sociobiology: http://tinyurl.com/26tbjw
'Evolutionists At War Over Altruism’s Origins', 1.10=4 CommonDreams: http://tinyurl.com/22rxgk/
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http://tinyurl.com/2u33wt
"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference", by Malcolm Gladwell ; Back Bay Books (January 7, 2002)
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'The Ghost of the Racism', 1.7=1: http://tinyurl.com/2cytda
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[Conflict] Paul or Obama? #101: For Rational Future! < Not a good week for the USA...
Saturday, January 5, 2008 1:40:45 PM
To:Conflict@yahoogroups.com

"" [Tsai 08.1.5=6 #1] Thank you so much, R., for leading me to see this fantastically useful informational tools, gained from biological/social sciences, for good works for our social/political efforts, like democracy, especially direct democracy! In order to promote our peaceful, cooperative and harmonious traits.

----- Original Message ----
From: R. W. <...@ gmail.com>
To: Conflict@yahoogroup s.com
Sent: Saturday, January 5, 2008 4:19:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Conflict] Ron Paul or Barack Obama? #100+: Remarkable: Where Future? < Not a good week for the USA

[Tsai 08.1.4=5 #1] It is after 7:30pm here now, NYC 10:30, UK around midnight 12:30? I have just read this thread from the beginning: as we all instinctly(? ) know at least all mammals are neocortically intelligent. After the language and the Internet, what could be the size of true social groups beyond around 150? Senator Barack Obama organized grass-roots younger and first-timer groups to support him in Iowa, nearer to true social groups than ones organized by more traditional and money-consuming ways by the former first couple? So is those passionate supporters of Dr. Ron Paul, whose simple common-sense responses to all kinds of questions are far more than mere constitutionalism, I feel. BO's resounding victory in white Iowa is remarkable. Supper now.

The neocortex thing ties in surprisingly well with unlinked observations of groups. For example I used to work for a bank department that employed 125 people, (broken down into smaller teams) collectively, we handled the paperwork for around 1/3 of the transactions in the UK Stockmarket, issued new certificates, paid-out and reconciled dividend cheques... allowed companies to "make and sell widgets" and use our expertise and economies of scale to simplify their admin. Then Thatcher privatised a whole bunch of companies - British Airways, British Gas...etc, and "rigged" the floatations to favour small shareholders. This changed the whole business of what we did. The number of stock and shareholders skyrocketed, and the amount of paperwork rose accordingly No WAY could 125 people handle the increased levels of business activity. And I watched the department fall apart as it grew. When it went through the "150 barrier" we became too complex for the existing management to handle, and needed a NEW layer of management. Office politics set in, and "empire building" became the main focus of the new managers rather than doing their REAL job. At the time, I wrote to a friend that it was like working in an East European factory, more concerned with ticking boxes than actually getting the job done. I speculated that maybe there was an optimum size for a workforce... and we'd just passed it. The Hutterite Church (they're like the Amish, just not as well known) have built "150" into the size of their communes for centuries. When the commune grows beyond 150, they split and form two, in a kind of "Mitosis". The company which makes Gore-Tex clothing does exactly the same - and uses a non-hierarchical structure. I don't have figures for the "Kabouter" movement which swept Amsterdam politics back in my youth, but it transformed the political scene of Amsterdam replacing much of the state provided social services with volunteer work. They tried to expand out of the one city into the rest of Holland, and imploded. Maybe they too broke through the "150 ceiling"?! John Wesley, the Methodist preacher, presided over the massive expansion of his church, by setting up new converts in SMALL regional "religious societies". BIG church, but based on SMALL units. ""

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Mammalian intelligence with Neocortex: http://tinyurl.com/hmx7g

"Neocortex is the structure in the brain that differentiates mammals from other vertebrates and it is assumed that the neocortex is responsible for the evolution of intelligence."
"man possesses no more neocortex"... ...
"primates... ...clearly are not unique in their neocorticalization."

http://tinyurl.com/358rss: " neocortex was the "most progressive structure" "
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'CO-EVOLUTION OF NEOCORTEX SIZE, GROUP SIZE AND LANGUAGE IN HUMANS', R.I.M. Dunbar
Human Evolutionary Biology Research Group, Department of Anthropology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT: http://tinyurl.com/2llk8r

"" Abstract
Group size is a function of relative neocortical volume in nonhuman primates. Extrapolation from this regression equation yields a predicted group size for modern humans very similar to that of certain hunter-gatherer and traditional horticulturalist societies. Groups of similar size are also found in other large-scale forms of contemporary and historical society. Among primates, the cohesion of groups is maintained by social grooming; the time devoted to social grooming is linearly related to group size among the Old World monkeys and apes. To maintain the stability of the large groups characteristic of humans by grooming alone would place intolerable demands on time budgets. It is suggested that (1) the evolution of large groups in the human lineage depended on the development of a more efficient method for time-sharing the processes of social bonding and that (2) language uniquely fulfills this requirement. Data on the size of conversational and other small interacting groups of humans are in line with the predictions for the relative efficiency of conversation compared to grooming as a bonding process. Analysis of a sample of human conversations shows that about 60% of time is spent gossiping about relationships and personal experiences. It is suggested that language evolved to allow individuals to learn about the behavioural characteristics of other group members more rapidly than is possible by direct observation alone. ""

... ...

"" 3. Results

3.1. Group Size in Modern Humans

The best-fit reduced major axis regression equation between neocortex ratio and mean group size for the sample of 36 primate genera shown in Fig.1 was found to be:

log(N) = 0.093 + 3.389 log(CR) (1) (r2=0.764, t34=10.35, p<0.001), where N is the mean group size and CR is the ratio of neocortex volume to the volume of the rest of the brain (i.e. total brain volume minus neocortex) (Dunbar 1992a). Use of both major axis and least-squares regression, as well as alternative indices of relative neocortex size, all yield equations that are of about this same magnitude.

With a neocortex volume of 1006.5 cc and a total brain volume of 1251.8 cc (Stephan et al 1981), the neocortex ratio for humans is CR=4.1. This is about 50% larger than the maximum value for any other primate species (see Dunbar 1992a). Strictly speaking, of course, extrapolation from regression equations beyond the range of the X-variable values on which they are based is frowned on. However, we can justify doing so in this case on the grounds that our concern at this stage is exploratory rather than explanatory. We do so, therefore, in the knowledge that the confidence limits around any predictions are likely to be wide.

Equation (1) yields a predicted group size for humans of 147.8. Because the equation is log-transformed and we are extrapolating well beyond the range of neocortex ratios on which it is based, the 95% confidence limits around this prediction (from formulae given by Rayner 1985) are moderately wide (100.2- 231.1). Equations based on alternative indices of neocortex size (see Dunbar 1992a, Table 2) yield predicted group sizes that range from 107.6 (EQ residual of neocortex volume regressed against body weight) to 189.1 (Jerison's Extra Neocortical Neurons index) and 248.6 (absolute neocortex volume), all of which are within (or close to) the 95% confidence limits on the neocortex ratio equation.

In trying to test this prediction, we encounter two problems. One is deciding just what counts as the "natural" condition for H. s. sapiens; the other is the problem of defining the appropriate level of grouping for human societies living under these conditions.

It is generally accepted that human cultural evolution has proceeded at a very much faster pace than our anatomical evolution during the past few millenia. Given that our brain size has its origins in the later stages of human evolution some 250,000 years ago (Martin 1983, Aiello & Dean 1990), we may assume that our current brain size reflects the kinds of groups then prevalent and not those now found among technologically advanced cultures. The closest we can get to this is to examine those modern humans whose way of life is thought to be most similar to that of our late Pleistocene ancestors. These are generally presumed to be the hunter-gatherers (Service 1962, Sahlins 1972). ""

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