<article_title>Brain</article_title>
<edit_user>Looie496</edit_user>
<edit_time>Wednesday, November 11, 2009 6:01:22 PM CET</edit_time>
<edit_comment>return to last versio by Oda Mari, IP edits are not an improvement</edit_comment>
<edit_text>From a biological perspective, the function of a brain is to <strong><strike>control</strike></strong><strong>generate behaviors that promote</strong> the functions and actions of an animal.&lt;ref&gt;Carew, Behavioral Neurobiology, Ch. 1&lt;/ref&gt; To do this, it extracts enough relevant information from sense organs to refine actions. Sensory signals may stimulate an immediate response as when the olfactory system of a deer detects the odor of a wolf; they may modulate an ongoing pattern of activity as in the effect of light-dark cycles on an organism's sleep-wake behavior; or their information may be stored in case of future relevance. The brain manages its complex task by orchestrating functional subsystems, which can be categorized in a number of ways: anatomically, chemically, and functionally.</edit_text>
<turn_user>Looie496<turn_user>
<turn_time>Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:22:45 AM CET</turn_time>
<turn_topicname>Wording of two sentences</turn_topicname>
<turn_topictext>Can we discuss the wording of a couple of sentences? One that used to say "The most important biological function of the brain is to generate behaviors that promote the welfare of an animal" was changed to "The most important biological function of the brain is to manage and control the functions and actions of an animal". I dislike this new wording because (1) "manage and control" is redundant, (2) "function .. is to manage and control ... functions" is awkward, (3) "functions and actions" is vague, (4) the new wording leaves out the crucial point that the brain's output is useful to the animal. What is the problem with the previous version? The same issues arise with the other edit involved here. Looie496 (talk) 02:22, 12 November 2009 (UTC) I agree that the wording in your points 1 &amp; 2 is not good at all. "Functions and actions" may need to be vague to avoid a long list which would never be complete?But the specific point "the brain's output is useful to the animal" is why I'm reacting. It is not true in many cases where an animal's functions and actions benefit its group or the species, rather than the individual. Example: some mothers fight to the death to protect their offspring, which is not beneficial to the mother. - Hordaland (talk) 14:26, 12 November 2009 (UTC)First of all, I want to emphasize again that I actually do not feel at all strongly about the issue. My thinking at the time http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brain&amp;action=historysubmit&amp;diff=325279726&amp;oldid=325279096 was that "welfare" and "genetic fitness" were a bit dubious, welfare because it seems to me to connote animal welfare, and genetic fitness because it sounds rather eugenic, and both of these do lead to the issue that Hordaland just described. Thinking about it more, I realize that the bigger issue for me (relatively speaking, not that it's all that big!) is the use of the word "promotes": I don't really think the brain (or the behavior that it generates) is in the business of promoting anything (although I realize as I type this that we could have quite a philosophical debate about that). On the other hand, I take Looie's point about the similarity between functions and actions (although I suppose the former can refer to autonomic functions while the latter can refer to voluntary actions), and I agree that "manage and control" is completely unnecessary. Bottom line: maybe we have found that both wordings leave something to be desired. Would it perhaps be preferable to find a worthy quote or two from an RS, and quote it directly instead of synthesizing something? --Tryptofish (talk) 19:06, 12 November 2009 (UTC)A nice quote would be great if somebody can find one. In the meantime, how about, "the biological function of the brain is to control the muscles and internal organs of the body"? Looie496 (talk) 19:35, 12 November 2009 (UTC)Yes, fine, go for it! --Tryptofish (talk) 19:46, 12 November 2009 (UTC)Well, I found when I tried it that it didn't quite work in that form, so I revised it a bit, and then I found I had to make a few changes in the rest of the paragraph to make it flow. Anyway, I hope it is acceptable now. Looie496 (talk) 23:29, 12 November 2009 (UTC)Thanks. I tweaked it a little more, no big deal. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:43, 12 November 2009 (UTC)</turn_topictext>
<turn_text>Can we discuss the wording of a couple of sentences? One that used to say "The most important biological function of the brain is to generate behaviors that promote the welfare of an animal" was changed to "The most important biological function of the brain is to manage and control the functions and actions of an animal". I dislike this new wording because (1) "manage and control" is redundant, (2) "function .. is to manage and control ... functions" is awkward, (3) "functions and actions" is vague, (4) the new wording leaves out the crucial point that the brain's output is useful to the animal. What is the problem with the previous version? The same issues arise with the other edit involved here. </turn_text>