>A high-potential human 10,000 years ago would have been raised in a low-complexity environment, likely speaking a single language with fewer than 5,000 words

>A high-potential human 10,000 years ago would have been raised in a low-complexity environment, likely speaking a single language with fewer than 5,000 words This is a pretty bold claim. Why so few words? Why not 2300 words? How can anyone know this? I think quite a few historians would disagree with the statement that pre-history was low-complexity environment. >Of the people who have attempted to take over the world, hardly any seem to have had an exceptional intelligence. How can the author even know this? We aren't particular good at measuring human intelligence when given direct access to a living cooperative subject and yet the author wants to pin his argument on calling Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan stupid? > Our brains themselves were never a significant bottleneck in the AI-design process. How can anyone know this? We should be skeptical of the Strong-AI crowd's predictions of intelligence explosions but that skepticism should not take the form of unfounded and absurd claims.