Genesis 1.2 - Intelligence

http://www.drdavidneiman.com. Part 2 of Genesis 1. Dr. Neiman discusses the gift and curse that is human intelligence. He relates the physiology of humans to the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. This is the second segment in Genesis 1.

Dr. Neiman (1921 - 2004) was the first Jewish scholar appointed to teach Religion at Boston College, one of America's leading Catholic Universities. He served as Professor in the Department of Theology for a quarter of a century. While there he was also invited to teach at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. After retiring from Boston College, Dr.Neiman moved to Los Angeles, where he taught at Loyola Marymount University, St. John' s Seminary in Camarillo and the University of Judaism in Bel Air.

To download lectures by Dr. Neiman or to purchase DVDs of his lectures, please visit drdavidneiman.com.

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[meganrwells]

indoctrination.... faith based ideologies dismiss critical thinking

[DrDavidNeiman]

@meganrwells You really don't think there's any "critical thinking" going on here?

Becky Neiman/DrDavidNeiman

[DrDavidNeiman]

Farm animals have been altered by human breeding.

Here are some stats on head size:

Orangutans 73.1 (Infant head as percentage of pelvic inlet width)

Chimpanzees 72.4

Gorillas 64.4

Modern Humans 101.8

[DrDavidNeiman]

In human birth, the life of the mother is frequently threatened and over thousands of years, we have developed methods and professions devoted to assist the woman in giving birth. Mammals that have been altered by human breading do experience more complications than those in the wild. Humans have developed ways of dealing with difficult birth, and our intelligence has as much to do with the difficulties imposed upon us as it does with our survival. - (Becky Neiman, Producer, DrDavidNeiman)

[Kimmyloca0]

Has he seen any other animal give birth? I have to disagree, sure we have a big head and birth is difficult because of our larger brain and small pelvis due to bipedalism. But birth is also difficult for say a horse who has to give birth to a very developed foal who can run almost immeadiately after birth. It is painful and they encounter a lot pf problems just like us humans. Try pushing out a 70-90 pound foal through a comparatively small birth canal. Difficult childbirth is not a human issue.

[DrDavidNeiman]

@Kimmyloca0 It seems that there is a great resistance to the notion that humans have exceptional characteristics. The brain is exceptional in humans and it makes a difference. You might want to check out "Birth and Human Evolution: Anatomical and Obstetrical Mechanics in Primates" for a more thorough explanation of what they call the "crisis in human birth".

[Oshyoga]

When he say that animal don´t suffer to give birth, he is very very wrong, they suffer a lot, i helped a lot of animals to have birth and i knows how they suffer for hours.

[Oshyoga]

OBS: hi is doctor of Judaism, he is not astronomer or biologist to state this kind of thing, they explain the big bang totally fail, he know nothing about it. Man this video is dis-educational. I want my time back!

[meganrwells]

@DrDavidNeiman oh no no.... i do think there is critical thinking, and i appreciate the vid. but i found it was a few steps behind the times and biased towards the bible, whose God wont reveal himself. it scares me to ever think about calling the bible good.... do you feel like it asks us to do a lot of weird& inhumane things while also taking a side in judging good vs evil constantly? its just a big oxymoron to me..... i dunno.

[RODikUlus]

@theawardgoesto1-This makes no sense, because it would mean that we were put here by a god who hinged death, suffering, & such on a small-brained couple who on top of being small-brained, have had no experience in living life. There would have been no life lessons learned from this 1st human pair, as there was no other human to observe triumphs & faults. It's how we learn. The Genesis creation myth is an aesops fable to explain why we don"t live forever, but can increase in knowledge.Observation

[theawardgoesto1]

@Kimmyloca0 Ah, so what he is saying is that prior to receiving this knowledge our minds were small enough for women to give birth painfree because the brain size was small enough to not overstretch the birth canal. The brain is a muscle in a sense, so by having more knowledge exercised in our minds our brain size increased... I think that's what Dr. Neiman is saying. Makes sense to me.

[meangreenmeme]

@DrDavidNeiman

there is no such word as breading. You mean BREEDING.

[1xydz1]

i understand him. he is ok.

[enlill1]

I disagree...birthing pain is NOT caused by the head being too big. For starters, the shoulders are far bigger than the head. Secondly, I was raised on a farm. Animals DO feel pain during birth. Just because they dont scream like a human doesnt mean they dont feel anything. Thirdly, animals are conscious beings. Maybe not in the same way as humans...but they ARE conscious, they have feelings and emotions. Anyone with a pet dog or cats can tell you this.