The modern brain is no different from our distant Stone Age ancestors because evolution proceeds by accretion—once a solution is good enough, it persists and new features are added on, rather than replacing the old structure entirely.

causalpending

Speaker

Richard Cytowic

Evidence Quote

Evolution precedes by accretion. That is, once the brain arrives on a solution that's good enough, it keeps it and then adds on new features, sort of like a New England add on house, where you add one room after another and it looks sort of funky, but it works.

Source

Your brain wasn't built to hold this much information | Richard CytowicBig Think
Created: 8/12/2026, 6:39:44 PM

My Notes

Loading notes...