| Science journals have featured countless | | | | cause for pessimism in the study of human |
| stories about the evolution of the human | | | | origins. Science reporter James Randerson of |
| brain. Scientists are puzzled since humans | | | | Britain's Guardian newspaper was even more |
| have much bigger brains than any other | | | | brunt, saying, "We know nothing about brain |
| species. Their suggested explanations have | | | | evolution." Randerson went on to summarise |
| often been mutually exclusive. For instance, | | | | Lewontin's reasons for pessimism. "The |
| the old text book explanation relied on | | | | handful of hominid fossils stretching back 4m |
| eating meat but a few years ago an article in | | | | years or so" cannot tell us whether any of |
| New Scientist, a popular science magazine, | | | | them were our ancestors. We "do not have the |
| suggested that eating starch was the secret | | | | have the faintest idea what the cranial |
| of brain growth. But both explanations fail | | | | capacity [of a fossil hominid] means". |
| to answer why other meat or starch eating | | | | Moreover, we do not even know which hominids |
| species do not have big brains. | | | | walked upright and which did not. |
| | | | |
| At the recent AAAS (American Association for | | | | Lewontin is well-known for his outspokenness. |
| the Advancement of Science) annual meeting in | | | | In 1997 he wrote in The New York Review of |
| Boston, Richard Lewontin, a distinguished | | | | Books that scientists often choose to make up |
| biology professor at Harvard University, | | | | "unsubstantiated just-so stories" because |
| acknowledged that stories about human brain | | | | they "have a prior commitment, a commitment |
| evolution have not been based on facts. | | | | to materialism... Moreover, that materialism |
| Reporting on the meeting for the journal | | | | is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine |
| Science, Michael Balter quoted Lewontin as | | | | Foot in the door." |
| saying, "We are missing the fossil record of | | | | |
| human cognition, so we make up stories." The | | | | Obviously, the scientific community cannot |
| title of Balter's article seems to be an | | | | ignore Lewinton's recent conclusions. If the |
| admission of sorts: "How Human Intelligence | | | | ruling paradigm (naturalism or the view that |
| Evolved--Is It Science or 'Paleofantasy'?" | | | | nature is all there is) leads us into a blind |
| | | | alley, might there be something wrong with |
| According to professor Lewontin, it is | | | | it? |
| fantasy. Lewontin suggests that there is much | | | | |