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Human brain still evolving?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Bennettresearch
Politically Incorrect
Hey everyone,
I is most evident sometimes that we are no smarter than our ancient ancestors were, we only have more advanced technology. As far as evolution and stasis, I think we are in stasis now. The computer revolution has succeeded in "dumbing down america" so to speak. Example, people who literally can't do basic math in their heads because of the use of calculators. People who don't understand street designators because they either rely on farmer John directions or Map Quest.
I am not saying in the least that I don't see a great deal of very intelligent people in our world, I am only saying that there is no neccesity at present that would produce any evolutionary change towards a bigger brain but quite possibly the opposite.
I is most evident sometimes that we are no smarter than our ancient ancestors were, we only have more advanced technology. As far as evolution and stasis, I think we are in stasis now. The computer revolution has succeeded in "dumbing down america" so to speak. Example, people who literally can't do basic math in their heads because of the use of calculators. People who don't understand street designators because they either rely on farmer John directions or Map Quest.
I am not saying in the least that I don't see a great deal of very intelligent people in our world, I am only saying that there is no neccesity at present that would produce any evolutionary change towards a bigger brain but quite possibly the opposite.
painted wolf
Grey Muzzle
more info on continuing brain evolution can be found here: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7974
size honestly isn't as big a factor for inteligence as was once thought. Just look at H.floriensis aka 'the hobbit'. They managed to produce complex tools of the same quality as contemporary hominids with brains twice thier size... 'Hobbits' have brains roughly the same size as a chimpanzee but could make tools at the same level as H. erectus.
Half the brain size but equil in mental ability...
some info on this remarkably smart little hominids advanced brain.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn7090
wa:do
size honestly isn't as big a factor for inteligence as was once thought. Just look at H.floriensis aka 'the hobbit'. They managed to produce complex tools of the same quality as contemporary hominids with brains twice thier size... 'Hobbits' have brains roughly the same size as a chimpanzee but could make tools at the same level as H. erectus.
Half the brain size but equil in mental ability...
some info on this remarkably smart little hominids advanced brain.
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn7090
wa:do
Are you all saying that better storage and accessibility to data is definitely not a perception of intelligence but the brain evolving? It has been proven that certain amount of knowledge can be passed on to our siblings. Is that evolution or a capability? Site, hearing, taste, touch and smell are also some of our capabilities. Since our brain controls all of these functions, are we prepared to say all of these sensors have improved over the last 10,000 years?
No, nor did I say that- twins are recipients of possible intellectual inheritance... Identical twins are not clones they are individual people which happen to share many common similarities. I cannot see why intelligence cannot be passed on since many other things can.Sunstone said:
Whitsuntide
Member
Montessori schools base their teaching on a theory of brain development. They believe the wiring in the brain develops before age 14, and the curriculum is based on maximizing the circuits during this period. After 14, new wiring in the brain can happen but it becomes slower and more difficult.
According to this line of thought, brain size and complexity would have more to do with what our children are exposed to between age 0-14. That seems to be changing dramatically in the information age.
In that light, would children able to develop greater capacity and adeptness at the challenges of the information age, be more likely to pass on these genes?
According to this line of thought, brain size and complexity would have more to do with what our children are exposed to between age 0-14. That seems to be changing dramatically in the information age.
In that light, would children able to develop greater capacity and adeptness at the challenges of the information age, be more likely to pass on these genes?
painted wolf
Grey Muzzle
The inharent problem with this discussion is that there are so many different forms of inteligence. Reading, writing and arithmatic are all great, but they are not the sum of human intligence.
Some forms are the result of genetics (nature) some of environment (nurture).
We all have the same capacity to process information, some of us have been taught to refine that ability.
IQ is an unrelyable way of measuring inteligence... parents with high IQ's are no more likely to produce a child that is intrested in learning than parents with low IQ's if both children are encouraged to enjoy learning equily.
wa:do
Some forms are the result of genetics (nature) some of environment (nurture).
We all have the same capacity to process information, some of us have been taught to refine that ability.
IQ is an unrelyable way of measuring inteligence... parents with high IQ's are no more likely to produce a child that is intrested in learning than parents with low IQ's if both children are encouraged to enjoy learning equily.
wa:do