Re: Leslie Aiello's review of Cunnane's Survival of the Fattest
- From: "rmacfarl" <rmacfarl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 6 Aug 2006 14:27:46 -0700
Rick Wagler wrote:
"Marc Verhaegen" <fa204466@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44d5df9d$0$32428$ba620e4c@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aiello should at least know
that AAT has nothing to do with apiths, but everything with shorelineWhy should she or anyone else know that.? Oh right...
dispersals of Homo http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT It's not difficult
to
falsify non-existing hypotheses. Very unscientific attitude IMO.
she is automatically supposed to elevate your farrago
to number one status and ignore all the other AATs
that are scampering around all over the place...
.... including the farragoes he was promulgating 1, 3 & 5 years ago,
none of which are recognicably alike that which he is trying to promote
now as "AAT".
Since
your take is no better argued than anyone else's why
is she conmstrained to do that? Oh silly me....by
mounting this club-footed dodge and weave you don't
have to actually deal with the critique....As an exercise
in sly cunning this leaves something to be desired, IMHO....
Here's what Aiello wrote, for those interested:
"
JHE 2006 (51:216)
Survival of the Fattest: The Key to Human Brain Evolution
by Stephen Cunnane is the latest in a series of contributions
emphasizing the importance of brain-specific nutrients in the
ontogeny and evolution of the large human brain. Its central
argument is that the large human brain must have evolved in
an aquatic environment supplying abundant food that was
rich in nutrients essential for brain growth and development
(iodine, iron, copper, zinc, selenium and docosahexaenoic
acid). The title of the book, Survival of the Fattest, comes
from Cunnane's strong belief that body fat, and particularly
baby fat, is a defining human characteristic. He makes a convincing
argument that baby fat provides both fatty acid and
fuel reserves for brain growth. In his opinion, without this
fat and a good dietary source of the important brain nutrients
human brain evolution would simply not have occurred.
The first part of Survival of the Fattest is devoted primarily
to establishing the uniqueness of the human brain and its metabolic
and nutrient requirements. The second part sets out
Cunnane's `Shore-Based' Scenario for how the human brain
must have (might have) evolved. His basic argument is that
humans needed a shore-based food supply for brain evolution
and that, even today, when humans move away from such
a food supply dire consequences result. He emphasizes iodine
deficiency and has a point here. The World Health Organization
estimates that about 30 percent of the world's population
(1.57 billion people) are currently at risk of iodine deficiency
disorder and consequently of impairment in brain growth and
development.
Survival of the Fattest makes a number of relevant points
that any researcher interested in the field of dietary evolution
needs to take into consideration. However, there are also
a number of problems with this book. Principal among them
is that Survival of the Fattest is very hard work to read. This
is not because of any essential difficulty in the subject matter,
but because it is poorly written. Arguments are not clearly and
logically developed, discussions of brain biochemistry assume
a level of knowledge that the average anthropologist may not
have, and there is considerable redundancy in the discussions.
Palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists could also take
many exceptions to the interpretation of the fossil and
archaeological record in Survival of the Fattest and with the
often simplistic and idiosyncratic logic. For example, in Chapter
11, where Cunnane is arguing for the evolutionary advantage
of shore-based food, he claims that life was apparently so
easy for our shore-dwelling early ancestors (presumably the
earliest hominids, prior to Australopithecus?) that they got
fat (providing the fuel for brain expansion) and had time on
their hands to play with sticks and stones. At some later point
in their cultural development the penny dropped and they realized
the importance of their play-things as useful tools.
They never looked back.
Much of the discussion seems to be focused on unspecified
early phases of human evolution, and there is little attention to
the dietary correlates of the increase in body size in Homo
erectus or of the significant increase in encephalization that
occurs from approximately 500,000 years ago. Both of these
events are highlighted in discussions in Chapter 2 but never
revisited
in the context of the dietary hypothesis being proposed.
There are also unfortunately a number of editorial errors scattered
through the book and factual errors that are particularly
cringe-inducing for any anthropologist or comparative anatomist
who knows their stuff.
At one point (in Chapter 12) when Cunnane is reviewing
the pros and cons of the Savannah-Woodland Theory of human
evolution and the various versions of the Aquatic Theory (including
his) he touches on a perceived unfairness. He claims
that the Savannah-Woodland Theory starts from a position
of strength because it is an `anthropological' theory and everyone
learns it. He claims that the various Aquatic theories have
little clout in anthropological circles because their supporters
are mostly non-specialists in human evolution. I am afraid
that Survival of the Fattest is not going to change this situation.
It falls far short precisely in the areas that are needed to convince
anthropologists of the importance of the shore-based argument.
To be convincing, Survival of the Fattest should have
been written in a more accessible style with clearly developed
arguments, got its anthropological facts correct and engaged
with current work that is on-going in other areas of hominid
dietary and brain evolution.
"
[Source for this piece was <gasp> as follows:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/37064]
Ross Macfarlane
.
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