Why are our brains shrinking?
usfblogs.usfca.edu
Why are our brains shrinking?
1–10 of 199 posts
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#2Easy: we've offloaded some of our information storage to external media, i.e. writing.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#3.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#4Probably because of COVID. Or was it the measures? I always confuse the harm caused by the two.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#5Because we are being domesticated. Domesticated animals are all dumber than their wild counterparts. Every wild animal that ends up being domesticated ends up with a smaller brain. I should rephrase and maybe say that this doesn't necessarily mean the animals get dumber but they definitely change in the process of domestication and a smaller brain is one of those adaptations. [1]
> The reduced amount of white matter suggests that domestic rabbits have a compromised information processing possibly explaining why they are more slow reacting and phlegmatic than their wild counterparts.
1: https://phys.org/news/2018-06-differences-brain-morphology-w...
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#6Easy: we've offloaded some of our information storage to external media, i.e. writing.
From the article it indicates this shrinkage began 70K years ago, or 65K years before writing. In addition, vast majority of the population didn't know how to read or write until 100-150 years ago.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#7Because we are being domesticated. Domesticated animals are all dumber than their wild counterparts. Every wild animal that ends up being domesticated ends up with a smaller brain. I should rephrase and maybe say that this doesn't necessarily mean the animals get dumber but they definitely change in the process of domestication and a smaller brain is one of those adaptations. [1] > The reduced amount of white matter…
This is discussed in the article as one of the possibilities.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#8.
“Although our brains were getting bigger progressively, around 70,000 years ago they plateaued, and have been shrinking ever since.”
TIL TikTok existed 70,000 years ago.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#9Because we are being domesticated. Domesticated animals are all dumber than their wild counterparts. Every wild animal that ends up being domesticated ends up with a smaller brain. I should rephrase and maybe say that this doesn't necessarily mean the animals get dumber but they definitely change in the process of domestication and a smaller brain is one of those adaptations. [1] > The reduced amount of white matter…
This is discussed in the article as one of the possibilities.
Makes sense.
Re: Why are our brains shrinking?
#10Because we are being domesticated. Domesticated animals are all dumber than their wild counterparts. Every wild animal that ends up being domesticated ends up with a smaller brain. I should rephrase and maybe say that this doesn't necessarily mean the animals get dumber but they definitely change in the process of domestication and a smaller brain is one of those adaptations. [1] > The reduced amount of white matter…
Yes, people give away their private data for small conveniences, much like how pets give away their natural lives in wilderness for a guaranteed meal and a warm house.