Re: OT: Doubting Thomas: was "Introducing Myself"

In a message dated 2/17/2005 10:33:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
scaves@FRONTIERNET.NET writes:

>Not really--for me that is; through inbreeding, we might have in the Piraha
>a small society of people who exhibit some kind of mental retardation when
>it comes to calculation and abstraction, but whose lifestyle did not require
>natural selection to redress this genetic disorder.
Everett says "Pirahã women occasionally have children with Brazilian traders
passing through, children raised as Pirahãs. These children don't show any
difference I can see from other Pirahãs on these cognitive skills or language
facts. I don't think genes, retardation, or other such suggestions are useful or
appropriate here."

That's quoted on Language Log:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001387.html

The fact that half-Pirahã do not seem mentally different from full-Pirahã
would seem to argue against the "genetic disorder" hypothesis.

Doug