71–80 of 199 posts
> We see an erosion of grey matter, not white matter.
Given the lack of an actual brain, I assume this is some sort of assumption based on which part of the brain has changed size?
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I don't think I have it backwards. I don't remember anything or know much about the world in general terms. I just know and remember enough key phrases for google to give me the answers when I need them which requires very little cognitive effort on my part. [1] 1: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-athletes-way/2...
Computers are less than 100 years old, the idea that their existence has lead to brains shrinking is preposterous.
Because 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…
- Floppy or reduced ears
- Smaller brain and teeth
- Docility
- Juvenile behavior
- Depigmentation
Cutting-edge (heh) technology 70,000 years ago was the stone blade as well as the earliest known primitive art.
An interesting guide whenever you're trying to put this kind of thing into context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_prehistory
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I definitely have evidence that wolves are smarter than dogs. [1][2] You're welcome to nitpick but it's obvious that wolves are smarter than dogs. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soe-mONHGMc 2: https://www.studyfinds.org/wolves-smarter-dogs-logic/
That doesn't mean that humans are dumber now, though, nor does it mean that dogs were bred to be dumb, nor does it mean that dumb animals are easier to control. Humans with intellectual disability can in fact be extremely hard to control in my understanding!
If you know of cases and studies where the opposite is true then I'd like to see the research.
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I think the only thing I really quibble a bit with is the description of "dumber". Our "domestication" has historically been more that we've gone from a generalist species to a specialist society. With that, things that were previously probably a boon for survival and reproduction become less so (For example, quick reaction times don't matter so much when you have a city wall to keep out predators and a backup huntin…
Sounds like we need to take control of this evolutionary process and start engineering it. Just because we are no longer required to use these abilities on a daily basis doesn't mean we don't want them. Evolution can go to hell with its "pressures", humanity is supposed to get better over time, not worse.
Let's assume there even is a global optimum. Why do we think this global optimum would be invariant on environment? We have clear examples of species that fail to adapt to their changing environment quickly enough dying off. If you took the survivors of a change and then changed things back, those survivors might die again. That means you are fit to the environment you find yourself in. As the environment changes, you're not "better" or "worse" than someone who's more fit to a different environment.
Humanity is not getting strictly better on all stats. It's like a video game. We might tweak improve some stats and have to give up others. We are a bit more unique in that we largely optimize for the environment we create for ourselves, but that doesn't mean humans are constantly "getting better" over time. You could maybe try arguing that the human condition has improved over time due to technology, medicine, etc, but even that's an imperfect analysis because our historical record is so inaccurate.
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Sounds like we need to take control of this evolutionary process and start engineering it. Just because we are no longer required to use these abilities on a daily basis doesn't mean we don't want them. Evolution can go to hell with its "pressures", humanity is supposed to get better over time, not worse.
Sounds like eugenics. Heh, no thanks. Also "better" and "worse" only mean something relative to an end. I do not deny ends (I take human nature to be teleological, for example), but many "evolutionists" (i.e., those who accept a basically materialistic worldview) do deny the reality of ends (and are wholly incapable of accounting for them even if reduced to mental phenomena by virtue of having painted themselves into…
We already have little bits of eugenics baked into law and culture. Why not a little bit more? It doesn't have to involve death camps.
It seems like the majority of the comments are not taking into account that this trend began approximately 70,000 years ago - slightly before the various things people here are blaming such as TikTok, Google, writing, Javascript and Twitter. Cutting-edge (heh) technology 70,000 years ago was the stone blade as well as the earliest known primitive art. An interesting guide whenever you're trying to put this kind of th…
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Domestic animals have safe, boring and predictable environment. It's expected that they'd simplify their brain - the organ that consumes so much energy. If domesticated animals started playing chess, that would be a different story, but they spend their life mindlessly walking between a food dispenser and a litter box, taking naps in between.
>they'd simplify their brain This is not how evolution works! They are not in control of their breeding. Evolution is not some intelligent agent with goals. It is like a river, responding to to the path of least resistance in reproduction. Intelligence and/or brain size not a dominant evolutionary factor unless they are specifically bread for intelligence and/or brain size. Domesticated animal's dominant evolutionary…
Because 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…