Question:
I would think that human lifelong learning would be due to the maximal possible MATURITY of any given human. That their furthest possible development is what would allow their greatest possible understanding, judgement, conclusions, insights, etc.
They say that babies learn a huge amount at certain young ages. This is a certain KIND of learning. Quantity. But it seems like there's a KIND of learning where the discovery of only one fact could surpass this bulk in value by anyone's standard. Doesn't seem like the realm of youth to me.
I'm not sure how the dog thing washes out. Dogs are pack animals. We become their alphas. The result is perhaps that the most mature possible canine would work best with a human. Dog packs are already very particular in nature: they key off their alpha and their location as to their behavior. Is an undomesticated wolf more skilled, complex and mature than an elite bloodhound? Now, a bloodhound appears to lead a simpler, 'dumber' life of slavishness. What canine isn't slavish to its pack? Is the subtlety and development of the bloodhound higher or lower than the natural wolf skills? Are we freezing the development of dom-dogs, or perhaps is there a chance that we're helping them, pushing them, like coaches, giving them the security to advance far past what a wild dog could hope to do. ?
Answer:
But adult humans are much less flexible in all ways than are kids, too. As humans age we lose plasticity (raw learning ability?) but we can gain in many other mentally more potent ways. We could possibly make our greatest, most subtle and complex discoveries at an age when our body and brain is physically deteriorating. The crude work of raw learning being done earlier, the greatest decisions perhaps require less but far more highly refined brainpower. ?
this is still confusing. But is the idea still that human potential relates to neoteny? Human development takes longer than animal, but do we really retain juvenile characteristics which let us optimize our competitiveness? I still can't help but seeing human juvenile qualities as being less competitive than 'wizened' mature qualities. ?
