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Are you smarter than animals with brains a fraction of the size of yours? Why or why not? If the answer to the first question is "yes", it shouldn't take much
by maw 16y ago
Are you smarter than animals with brains a fraction of the size of yours? Why or why not?
If the answer to the first question is "yes", it shouldn't take much to extrapolate from there.
Now, how to divvy up that quality which we call intelligence into what is inherited and what is learned is an open, and difficult, question. I think it's pretty clear that both are important, and their relative weights probably vary from individual to individual. Still, is the idea that intelligence comes in part from our DNA "remotely suggested"? I think it's fair to say so.
- loewenskind 16y agoI was talking about among humans. Obviously brain size has a direct relation with intelligence. Are you suggesting that people like the lady in question have smaller brains?
- maw 16y agoForget the bit about brain size. It's a distraction from what I was trying to get at. Sorry. To rephrase my question: are you smarter than most (and in all likelihood all) non-human animals? The answer is yes, and in the case of humans vs animals, I deny that it's because of culture or upbringing or all the other stuff that gets lumped into the category of "nurture". If it were just that, well, my cats would by now be speaking about as well as human five year olds do. It's clear to me that nature plays a role. How much of a role is unclear, and, as I said, I suspect it varies. For historical reasons, we're stuck with both racist pseudoscience and politically correct pseudoscience to contend with. I bet the truth about these matters, if ever found, will be somewhere in between. (And, FWIW, closer to the politically correct side of things.)