Sorry the late answer; as I stated before, Civ V has sort of left my life. This might change again now that it is out for the Mac (for free to those who have the PC version, it seems, which shows that at least somebody at 2K has half a brain), since I can just fire it up from time to time with out all the hassle that is Windows. Anyway:
Lost, assumed, or hand-waved are all the steps connecting the two.
First, I'm sorry you
missed the humor. The other people in the thread seem to have grasped that there was a certain tongue-in-cheek element here. I apologize for not having made that aspect clearer for all readers.
Second, yes, there are steps missing, and there is a lot assumed here. However, may I ask
which form of evidence you would accept? Comparisons of fMRI scans of groups of Civ IV and Civ V players? A brain biopsy? Radioactive tracers? None of the things I can think of would be remotely affordable or otherwise realistic. Even with the humor, it is a theory that fit the facts as I see them (and it seems others do here, too). If you have a better theory for the same facts, I'd be glad to hear it.
Having theories that fit the facts, however imperfectly, but don't have the steps in between all worked out is actually quite common in science, by the way. Astronomy, for obvious reasons, pretty much has to do without experiments and proof in the classic sense. If you're upset here, I'm wondering what you think of such constructs such as Dark Matter. Oh, and you might want to look up the explanation of why you sneeze when you look into the sun. Last time I checked, it was something like "because" with more hand-waving. Scientists, remember, don't even
know for sure how we pee. They just have lots of theories.
Third, somebody (I don't think it was you) questioned
if this model was still recent. I assure them it is. For example, Rick Hanson,
who is a real neuroscientist, uses the monkey model in his discussion of the neurological bases of meditation (see
Taking in the Good), except that he's a far better story teller than I am. Specifically, he discusses how to use this knowledge to stabilize attention.
By the way, Hanson and
another real neurologist Richard Mendius have published an interesting book called
Buddha's Brain with lots of neurological background. Some people here might want to take a look at it to combat their "Civ V rage": It's about the neurological basis of happiness. Though it doesn't seem to involve building world wonders, which seem strange.
Now excuse me while I'm off to see if Civ V is any better on my Mac than on a PC.