> Human babies physically cannot walk. It’s not merely a knowledge check.

They physically cannot walk, but they also don't know how to. We know this because they need to practice and acquire skill. If they are deprived of opportunity to learn but their body continues to mature, their mature body does not give them the mature skill.

▲

jncfhnb 10 months ago | parent | next [-]

It may be that humans practice things, but they’re still mostly pretrained capabilities that activate. Most of walking and balance is subconscious and not “learned” via experience. We have dedicated neural hardware for this.

Language processing is another example. There’s dedicated neural hardware designed for this specific task.

▲

Retric 10 months ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Practice itself is an instinctual behavior.

Evolution isn’t limited to direct methods, as long as it works that’s enough.

▲

mekoka 10 months ago | parent | prev [-]

Are you saying that a human left to their own devices would not eventually walk? That walking erect is mimicry?

▲

jncfhnb 10 months ago | parent [-]

I think they’re saying a human that was not able to practice walking would not be able to walk even if their muscles were fine; like an inverted Neo waking up from the matrix.

It’s hard to imagine it being possible to test but I think they’re wrong.

	▲	mekoka 10 months ago \| parent [-]
		That's why I'm asking to clarify what they meant. Because from observing how quickly other animals (including other apes) acquire motor skills from birth, I don't see why we should attribute walking to a practiced skill for human infants, rather than a physical sturdying of their body to sustain the activity.