Ancestral brainpower

[Pertinax]

Maybe we are not so smart as we think:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/s...icle1790141.ece

some disconcerting news.

[caldrail]

The foosil record reveals this sort of thing in all kinds of species. Notice how cunning and intelligent modern cats of all sizes are. The older sabre-tooth varieties (which apparently survived much longer than we previously realised, and may even have survived the ice ages before dying out) were not so clever either. Dinosaurs too are notorious for having small brains. Massive animals like sauropods had brains way smaller than our own, and some species had a second brain devoted entirely to allowing the beastie to walk. But - after all those millions of years dominating the world - right at the end they begin to evolve intelligence. For millions of years being big was a major survival advantage. In the harder poisonous late cretaceous world, outsmarting your rivals suddenly became more important.

 

You might argue the opposite considering that neanderthal men had larger brains than us, but then they were specialised human beings evolved for cold climates which were disappearing. The more aggressive and general purpose cro-magnons moved in a with a hostile migration, apart from evidence in Portugal, which seems to show both species living together. The last remaining neanderthals throwing themselves at the mercy of their enemies? Maybe they were more intelligent.

[Northern Neil]

Kurt Vonnegut, in Galapagos, suggests that a large brain and intelligence/consciousness are by no means a permanent feature of a species. He suggests, via his novel, that evolutionary forces may in the future see fit to reduce human brain size and intelligence, as an adaptation to a world in which it is no longer needed.

[caldrail]

Yes this happens. Penguins have wings but swim instead of fly for instance. Its also surmised that cold temperatures increase the rate of brain evolution, since thinking isn't too necessary in tropical idylls with food everywhere. As for less intelligent species of humanity, they're already with us, and you may well find them engaged in their mating rituals on a saturday night

 

I also read that our modern society has boosted the need for intelligence. Fine if you're a nuclear scientist, but for for the average grunt has life really got that much more complex? Since many of them do no more than lower classes did in roman times?

Edited May 21, 2007 by caldrail