[lbo-talk] Let's Build

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Mon Oct 16 11:03:52 PDT 2006


Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:


>Doug:
>
>Are Americans "hard-wired" differently from the Dutch and Japanese?
>
>
>[WS:] Two comments:
>1. I would be inclined to answer this affirmatively, albeit I cannot prove
>it. AFIK, cognitive experiences do change the neurological structure of the
>brain, so it is not too farfetched to think that a group that predominantly
>experienced the open space environment also developed cognitive preference
>for that. Ditto for the Dutch and the Japanese, where open space was
>limited.
>
>
>
Even if we assume that "neurological structure" is shaped by open space environments (a highly speculative claim), Woj is confusing cause and effect here. The "cognitive perference", according to his speculation, is the dependent variable, not the independent variable. Leave out all the pop-neuroscience jargon, and Woj is just saying that people like the kind of environment they grew up in. There's nothing "hardwired" about it, unless you believe in the Lamarckian genetic transmission of acquired traits.

Miles



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