Teilhard and Cosmic Evolution Series, 4 of 8
A new parameter for evolution: coefficient of complexity and nervous system (p47)
-Cerebralization – complexity of the brain
-Cephalization – absolute manifestation/concentration of the nervous system
See p54 Eddinger’s Development of the Brain in Equidae (it gets bigger)
See p52 Romer’s stages in the cerebralization of vertebrates (from fish-reptile-dog-man, the cerebral hemisphere eventually overcrowds, with the cerebellum growing also)
“In the course of the last 700 million years we can see that countless things disappeared, but not a single new thing, apart from the hominians, has appeared in nature (p73).”
“Hominians upon reaching the sapiens stage change ceregrally more rapidly and profoundly than any other living thing during the same interval (p76).”
Mankind – the last of evolution (p82)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Man’s Place in Nature: The Human Zoological Group
Written 1949, Harper’s 1956, English trans 1966
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