4 ms·
The relative mass of the brain to the body is what really matters. The brain:body mass ratio for a crow is roughly the same as a chimp.
by yareally 10y ago
The relative mass of the brain to the body is what really matters. The brain:body mass ratio for a crow is roughly the same as a chimp.
- clarry 10y agoAlthough we joke about stupid obese Americans, I don't buy that the mass of the body surrounding the brain has any relation to cognitive abilities. Of course you may need a bigger brain to control a body with more muscles (e.g. elephant trunk), but muscle control is quite automatic and has little to do with intelligence.
- yareally 10y agoI was referring to species in general, not specific humans. The encephalization quotient[1] doesn't work quite as well for comparing primates to other primates either. The encephalization quotient is a fairly reliable way predict general animal intelligence. It's not just some anecdotal evidence. It's obviously not a silver bullet, because there are edge cases it doesn't consider, but the numbers it gives do give a very basic way to tell if a species may have sophisticated cognitive abilities. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalization_quotient