Converting

[R00tKiT]

No, I'm not. I'm arguing from the certain knowledge that there was no dividing line between any ancestor and their immediate descendant. What you're arguing for is something that is for all intents and purposes non-human giving birth to something that is human. Evolution don't work like that.

Yeah, because evolution never works-just kidding.

I think you're just playing with words now, the differences between Einstein's brain and his mom's aren't really shades of grey, they're really visible, so much so that one earned the label of the most famous physics rockstar of all time, and the other, well.. the woman behind the successful rockstar.

Of course both of them are human, but this is not my point. The example clearly shows that tangible changes in the neurological system can happen even for an immediate descendant. Granted, he didn't have an additional full blown neural system, but he would be a good candidate for the first modern human. The mother, being the metaphor for the pre modern human, was really really close, though, but still pre modern.

Synaptogenesis and other small changes won't get you diddly without the complex neural structures already in place. More connections doesn't help if you don't have speech centers.

And there, you have it : synaptogenesis, a small change, provided tangible differences. Nobody is denying complex neural structures need to be already in place, they just happen to be not enough for whoever possesses them to be modern, something like the little change that happened to Einstein did.

Sure, my scenario is clumsy. But it's enough to refute your illusory certainty about the first modern human being impossible.

In summary, say pre modern humans have all the complex neural structures a modern human has, but with poor synaptogenesis - and as a result, they can't conceive of god and religion. Suddenly some genius baby inherits their neural structures plus good synaptogenesis, and all his descendants inherit the latter property, is it that hard to see the fine line now..? can't we call the genius baby the first modern human?

And what I'am writing here is just one imaginable scenario, how can one be so certain there wasn't some neurological process - of the "small change" variety - introducing the would-be modern humans to concepts that were unconceivable to them - namely god and religions.. just as Einstein thought experiments proved us all wrong about the structure of the universe... we're literally less dumb when thinking about the universe thanks to his synapses.