From: "jeffrey E." <jeevacation®gmail.com> To: "Nowak, Martin" Subject: Re: Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2015 23:35:19 +0000 would have been easier to say " I dont know" On Sun, Aug 23, 2015 at 7:21 PM, Nowak, Martin < his 2nd paragraph is in answer to your question but it seems to me that one does not really know so you stumbled on something great! (winrich is a neurobiology professor at rockefeller) Begin forwarded message: From: Winrich Freiwald <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Date: August 23, 2015 5:41:03 PM EDT To: "Nowak, Martin" <a > wrote: Hi Martin, it is funny you should write. I was in Boston for a weekend seminar and wants to ask you about social cognitive evolution. Has anyone tried to describe the cognitive arms race that might have happened in primate evolution. I am thinking of the following scenario: when an agent interacts with the world, she will profit form better cognitive abilities. But the world will not change that fast. So, if there is increased ability to make tools that is great. But I think the social domain, where agent A wants to predict agent's B behavior, A is up against B's cognitive ability, i.e., there seems to be some positive feedback in the sense that the social environment is changing, too, and thus increases social pressure. Not sure if I make sense, but it seems hat certain social systems are more prone to this kind of evolution than others, and I would find it fascinating to think how those social structure might make social cognitive evolution more probable, and how social cognitive abilities might structure societies. So I guess I have two questions. The quick answer to your question is that the two parts of the brain that in primates expand in size he most, cortex cerebri and cortex cerebelli, are both cortex, sheet-like structures. So they do not increase very much in depth. The basic circuit in depth would likely not scale well, but our understanding there is not that deep. Ok, assume that