101–110 of 199 posts
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…
The article touches on that too. It is pretty comprehensive about a variety of going theories and doesn’t make the mistake of choosing any single one of them as the “because”.
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…
> Cutting-edge (heh) technology 70,000 years ago was the stone blade as well as the earliest known primitive art I think it's important to remember that technology is highly, highly iterative. It's not like if Elon Musk were born 70k years ago we'd have cavemen with electric cars. In fact, if all of us were somehow warped back in time that far, I fear we'd be even worse off. We know how to roll fiber optic networks a…
- art and culture from the far future (flutes, 42 kya; figurative art, 40 kya)
- Simple ovens (29 kya) and pottery (20 kya)
- Rope and various ways to use rope (nets, clothes, bags) 26-28 kya
- Saws (20 kya)
- Dugout canoes (8 kya)
- Basic knowledge of health and disease (concept of potable/non-potable water, "fertility awareness" method for contraception, warm clothing, prevention of injuries, etc)
- Food preservation (salting and drying meat, fermented foods, perhaps sealing things with pitch?)
- Wheeled carts (3 kya)
- "Water bottles": animal skins sealed with pitch
Each of these can probably be made/demonstrated over a period of days or weeks and would likely impress the group. If I was really successful and managed to lead the group, I'd probably try to at least get us on our way to these things (would likely take generations):
- Attempt animal domestication (13 kya)
- Cultivation of barley and wheat (10 kya)
- Water wheel (2 kya)
- Migration to fertile region (Fertile Crescent perhaps?)
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…
I wish I could upvote this more. I would be willing to bet a number of such comments did not even read the article and responding based on impulse with their gripe about modern society du-jour.
I would therefore propose that some event occurred which pushed humans out of africa, which lead to those that remained having smaller brains, and ultimately lead those that left to the same position. Perhaps that explanation is simply population density. Populations tend to expand geometrically, such that the largest portion of population growth occurs in the latest generations. We also know that all modern humans are descended from a very small set of people, maybe as few as fifty (?).
So humans began at that population, slowly expanded across africa for a few tens of thousand of years, started running out of space and were forced to migrate away from africa, then shortly filled up the rest of the earth. Having no where else to escape to, we were forced to deal with increased population density. This lead to lower food availability to support large brains, as well as increased need to reduce aggressive behaviour, achieved via more juvenile brains. Thus, brain sizes reduced across the globe.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Cutting-edge (heh) technology 70,000 years ago was the stone blade as well as the earliest known primitive art I think it's important to remember that technology is highly, highly iterative. It's not like if Elon Musk were born 70k years ago we'd have cavemen with electric cars. In fact, if all of us were somehow warped back in time that far, I fear we'd be even worse off. We know how to roll fiber optic networks a…
If an intelligent modern person with some knowledge of history was sent back to 70,000 years ago (70 kya) we'd probably be able to bring significant help to the group - assuming we were accepted into the group and not immediately killed by our ancestors in peak physical condition. Personally, I'd attempt to introduce: - art and culture from the far future (flutes, 42 kya; figurative art, 40 kya) - Simple ovens (29 ky…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The brain itself is the evolutionary pressure. It is often repeated that the brain takes ~20% of our body's energy despite being ~2% of our body's mass. If there is no need to have a brain so large (due to a lack of predators) it is beneficial to shrink it.
It's beneficial to lower the brain's calorie intake it if it results in higher reproductive fitness. But like GP said, we have plenty of calories, more than we've had compared to the entire history of humanity. So it doesn't naturally follow that lower calorie brains are higher fitness in 2021.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Cutting-edge (heh) technology 70,000 years ago was the stone blade as well as the earliest known primitive art I think it's important to remember that technology is highly, highly iterative. It's not like if Elon Musk were born 70k years ago we'd have cavemen with electric cars. In fact, if all of us were somehow warped back in time that far, I fear we'd be even worse off. We know how to roll fiber optic networks a…
If an intelligent modern person with some knowledge of history was sent back to 70,000 years ago (70 kya) we'd probably be able to bring significant help to the group - assuming we were accepted into the group and not immediately killed by our ancestors in peak physical condition. Personally, I'd attempt to introduce: - art and culture from the far future (flutes, 42 kya; figurative art, 40 kya) - Simple ovens (29 ky…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a recent news about elephants evolving to have no tusks... Something that is happening in a relatively short time span. I will no wonder if our modern trends (consuming anything to get pleasure and short-term rewards) will affect our brain size in a similar time span.
That was very much guided evolution though - elephants without tusks get spared, the others get killed for the tusks. There’s nothing like that happening with humans at a population scale, outside the realm of conspiracy theories
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is already playing out at a global level: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01602... "There were strong negative correlations found between national IQ and three national indicators of fertility." I think we should look on with worry that there are people with smaller brains that we are now giving unlimited resources to (food, technology, medicine), via aid and welfare programs. The dysgenic…
There are so many problems with this post. * Implying a connection between IQ and brain size * Implying IQ is a measure of a person's worth to society * Implying people below some magic IQ threshold that renders them unworthy are being "given" resources
Imagine a unique cat with an IQ of human. Would you say it is more worth to society, than any other cat? Probably so. Is there a magic IQ threshold that renders other cats not as worthy as humans to not be given the same kind of resources? In a way yes, as you would draw a line.
Intelligence is what makes humans humans.