uncle_onion

If Evolution is correct,why do we have more brain cells than we need?

Also is there any fossil evidence for evolution?

UO

Orpheous99

Speak for yourself...

If we were created than we would ONLY have the brain cells we needed.

As for your second part yes there is mountians of evidence for evolution in the the fossil record.

Jamie_L

As mentioned in your other thread, if a trait is neither helpful nor harmfull, it will neither be favored nor remove that trait. If we have extra brain cells, but they don't hurt us, there's no reason to expect that evolution would weed them out.

I would also point out that we are really only begining to understand the brain. It's not clear to me at all that we know for certain that we "don't need" all those brain cells.

Lastly, I second Orpheous99's opinion. If we were created, one would assume our bodies would be perfectly designed for their purpose, as efficient as possible, with no unnecessary bits. To me, it seems that's clearly not the case.

Jamie

Oolon Colluphid

Yep, literally tons. What sort of thing are you after?

Technically, all fossils are evidence for evolution, because the pattern of their distribution through time clearly shows some forms apearing before others... there are hundreds of examples of 'transitionals'... let us know what you want, and we'll try and provide it!

Cheers, Oolon

CodeMason

We... don't... have more brain cells than we need... I wonder what orifice the creationist pulled this slimey gem out of.

tgamble

Maybe it's that old "we only use 10% of our brains" myth.

[Edited instead of replying , but hopefully corrected ]

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: Oolon Colluphid ]</p>

Oolon Colluphid

Well from an evolutionary point of view, it's extremely unlikely that we have more than we need. Brains are highly costly things to run, yet the trend over the last 3.5my has been towards us having bigger and bigger ones. If they weren't being used, the trend could easily have been the other way.

Uncle Onion, where did you get that info from?

TTFN, Oolon

scigirl

Also remember that neurons rarely divide (I would have said never, but well, studies show that a very limited set of neurons do divide).

So, each time a neuron dies, it is lost. No doubt there is a lot of functional redundancy because of "extra" neurons. But I would hardly say we have more neurons than we need.

scigirl

Peez

What makes you think that we have "more brain cells than we need?" What makes you think that this would be a problem for evolution, if it was true? Exactly what do you mean by "evolution," common descent or the theory of evolution? Is there any water in the ocean? Assuming that you mean common descent, then yes, evidence for it is ubiquitous and massive in the fossil record. That is part of the reason that it is considered a fact.

Peez

uncle_onion

Allow me to explain my situation:

I have been a JW for 27 years and am now starting to think for myself instead of being told what to beleive.

Th ecomments about the "not using all our brain cells" etc comes from a JW book that I read some years ago. It is astandard JW answer to Evolutionists. I am now trying to research Evolution for my myself with no glasses on so that I can make my own opinions.

The fossil evidence that I "require" is the "this turned into that and here are the bits in the middle" evidence.

Thanks for your help and any help and advice would be gratefully recieved.

UO