Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!purdue!decwrl!sun!quintus!ok
From: ok@quintus.uucp (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Thought/Emotion/Feeling
Message-ID: <830@quintus.UUCP>
Date: 9 Dec 88 04:45:53 GMT
References: <569@epicb.UUCP> <1146@arctic.nprdc.arpa>
Sender: news@quintus.UUCP
Reply-To: ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Inc.
Lines: 17

In article <1146@arctic.nprdc.arpa> bickel@nprdc.arpa (Steven Bickel) writes:
>   From what I have read concerning evolutionary development of
>   cognition: intelligence developed because humans discovered that 
>   forms of farming were far more productive and life sustaining
>   than gathering. Farming required more thought and therefore 
>   increases in thought were supported as an evolutionary trend.

There are human groups which, as far as we can tell, have never practiced
agriculture.  (The KoiSan amongst others.)  They are not widely regarded
as being particularly stupid.  Remember, agriculture is a *very* recent
development in humans, biologically speaking.  Hunting-and-gathering is
actually quite a successful mode of life:  agriculture does _not_ provide
a better quality of life for individuals (not before mechanisation); just
ask an archaeologist about the (apparent) incidence of disease before and
after the introduction of agriculture.  What agriculture permits is a
higher population density, the development of a leisured class, and other
forms of specialisation.