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I used to be tempted to think that our modern generations are extra smart because of the cool gadgets we have. Seeing stuff like this, and reading ancient poli
by DoofusOfDeath 6y ago
I used to be tempted to think that our modern generations are extra smart because of the cool gadgets we have.
Seeing stuff like this, and reading ancient political / philosophical writings, gives me a much-needed reality check.
- jacquesm 6y agoThere is absolutely no difference between a human from 6000 years ago and one today. You could be an Einstein level genius back then, and likely unable to use any of those skills other than for the optimization of your environment. Also, you likely would not be able to use the bulk of it because your education would be non-existent, so your IQ compared to someone today would be much lower even though your raw intelligence would be higher. Essentially you'd be given an exquisitely crafted very blunt knife.
- WalterBright 6y ago> you likely would not be able to use the bulk of it Evolution rarely produces something useless, especially something that consumes a lot of precious energy like the brain. More likely these people were exquisitely knowledgeable about their environment. Either that, or their brains were the same size as ours, but far less efficient.
- chmod775 6y agoThe human brain has actually been shrinking since about 40k years ago. There is some correlation between brain size and intelligence, but admittedly it isn't too strong.
- fumar 6y agoHow much of a change? Citation?
- zo1 6y agoThere is indeed a citation about this higher up in the thread.
- dredmorbius 6y agoNeandertal brains were larger than h. sapiens. (https://www.cobbresearchlab.com/issue-2-1/2015/12/24/average-cranium-brain-size-of-homo-neanderthalensis-vs-homo-sapiens https://www.cobbresearchlab.com/issue-2-1/2015/12/24/average...) Whether this means Neandertal had greater cognitive capacity, or sapiens brain is more efficient, isn't clear to me.
- antocv 6y agoThats just... dude, 6000 years ago the knifes where sharper than what you find in your kitchen. What blunt knife? Similary, high IQ people today are given "blunt knifes" considering they are surrounded by 8 billion retards, see handling of covid, climate change, flat earthers etc. If anything, back then a high iq person would have motivation and belief in bringing discoveries to the table. Today, why would anyone invent say fusion power or usable super conductors when you know it will just be use for more poverty and destruction? The average size of brains has been lowered by 15% from then to now.
- jankotek 6y agoBronze knifes are bad. Malnutrition sucks. Life expectancy (if surving birth) was 30 years. But I am sure they would handle covid better ;)
- vetinari 6y ago> Life expectancy (if surving birth) was 30 years. That was average lifespan that includes child mortality. Once you survived puberty, chances were high you will live to your sixties, at least. Also, compare Africa ~50 years ago and today.
- antocv 6y agoExhibit 1. All the worlds information at its fingertips yet it still perpetuates a misunderstanding.
- coldcode 6y agoThe Egyptians built the pyramids without computers or modern construction equipment. Building the Great Pyramid of Giza today would be a massive project even with modern technology. Yet someone figured out not only how to build it, but organize the workers, the logistics, and manage a long term project without much more than a reed and papyrus.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago>Building the Great Pyramid of Giza today would be a massive project even with modern technology. Only because we expect a far lesser fraction of societal productivity to be spent on them. I don't know if anyone's run the numbers for the pyramids but European castles and cathedrals took a massive fraction of their area's productivity to create compared to modern civil engineering products. Recreating the pyramids would only be "big" because modern society doesn't spend big on vanity projects like that anymore. With modern tech we could build the same pyramids much cheaper or many more pyramids for the same money.
- woobar 6y agoWe have built better pyramids with modern technology. Luxor LV has comparable size but provide much more utility. Transamerica Pyramid and The Shard dwarf Egyptian pyramids.
- strken 6y agoNutrition, disease load, epigenetics.
- DavidHm 6y agoIt's a pretty typical mistake. We are just as smart as our predecessors. We just have a much higher population, a higher % of them are well educated, and we have an enormous body of historical knowledge (as well as easy ways for anyone to access it). "On the shoulder of giants" etc.
- sradman 6y ago> We just have a much higher population, a higher % of them are well educated, and we have an enormous body of historical knowledge Specialization and trade accelerated with the Industrial Revolution as well; Adam Smith’s division of labour combined with man’s propensity to truck, barter, and exchange.
- raducu 6y agoOur brains decreased by a golf ball size in the past couple thousand years. It is much easier for stupid people to survive today.
- pjc50 6y ago[citation needed]
- imtringued 6y agoWell, that's true in the sense that it is easier for everyone to survive today. That includes both the smart and the stupid.
- simias 6y ago
- _Microft 6y agoI rather wonder what our descendants will marvel at that we are doing. Will they think that it was ingenious to design machines in different parts, from different materials, then assembled and shipped to where they are needed? With the limited technology and methods of our time? That we used to engineer and create special machines for these different purposes because in their world, everything you can conceive will come out of replicators [0] instead? Fully functional, no matter which materials it consists of? And humans no longer involved in the design process because a solution was computer generated after stating the purpose of the tool? [0] https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Replicator https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Replicator
- andreime 6y agothe thermic engine would amaze the next generations
- raducu 6y agoHaving good lyrics in music? Poetry that actually sounds good? Paintings that make sense and take skill instead of bullshit art? Repairing relationships and mending things? Cooking for themselves?
- mensetmanusman 6y agoThey will marvel at the transistor.
- ip26 6y agoI'm biased, but I agree. I think the impact (as well as the marvel) is underestimated. It hasn't made the splash that antibiotics or fission did, but it underpins subtle, continued advancement in almost every other field. For example, any field that benefits from simulating physics- weather models, aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, nuclear physics, or protein folding. One specific marvel is the self-aligned gate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-aligned_gate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-aligned_gate)
- deleted 6y ago
- ReptileMan 6y agoWe are not that smarter. We just have scientific method and better power sources.
- FrankyHollywood 6y agoI had this feeling recently reading Voltaire quotes >200 years old, but could have been written today :) https://www.azquotes.com/author/15138-Voltaire https://www.azquotes.com/author/15138-Voltaire
- dredmorbius 6y agoMany of the cool gadgets are premised, directly or indirectly, on vastly greater energy access. Prime movers activate transports, lifts, and pumps. Energy and process controls yield more and more uniform or tuned materials. R&D is a phenomenally expensive, but cumulative, process yielding large returns with time. Precision measurement, coordination, communication, logistics, mamagement, modelling, quality control, and other advances are all based on that initial bolus of energy provided when we realised we could dig and pump up ancient burnable biomass. Ancient technology was very often no less innovative, only vastly more constrained.