At 11:43 AM 8/11/98 -0700, Robin Hanson wrote:
>At 03:59 PM 8/11/98 +0000, Damien Broderick writes:
>>this is fun: then backtrack thru the earlier chaps...
>>
>>http://williamcalvin.com/bk-lingua/LEMch16.htm
>
>They are very provocative, but the fact that they seem
>to be writing to a non-expert audience makes me
>suspicious; I'd like to hear relevant experts comment
>on their theories.
There are no relevant experts in the union of anthropology, neuroanatomy,
and linguistics. Or, if there are, there's no point in writing just for
them, because they are so few. Since anyone expert in one of these fields
is merely a layman in the others, it is reasonable to explain everything at
a lay level. This is standard practice in this area of study. For
example, "Conciousness Explained" by Dennet and "The Emperor's New Mind" by
Penrose are both attempts to introduce new theories of the mind, and have
attracted much specialist attention, but they are written so an intelligent
lay person can understand them. So another such book is hardly suspicious.
But it would be nice to hear a specialist in any one of these areas say
what they thought of Calvin's claims in that area.
--CarlF
Received on Mon Aug 17 18:14:11 1998
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