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An elephant brain has 3 times as many neurons as a human. They are pretty smart animals but so are dogs who have way less neurons. The point here being that th
by ithkuil 2y ago
An elephant brain has 3 times as many neurons as a human.
They are pretty smart animals but so are dogs who have way less neurons. The point here being that the number of neurons is just one of the many factors that determines intelligence (general or not)
- smokel 2y agoEven among humans with roughly similar neuron counts, there are notable examples of individuals displaying extreme stupidity.
- ithkuil 2y agoTo further complicate matters, some forms of stupidity are not the lack of intelligence but the consequence of other cognitive processes that may (or would) otherwise useful in social animals because they reinforce group bonds and have a role in group identity definition. Not all those processes are well adapted to the modern society.
- Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 2y ago80% of human neurons are actually in the cerebellum and are not related to consciousness at all
- ithkuil 2y agowe're talking about general intelligence and not about consciousness at all. it's unclear how much of what we call intelligence is involving the cerebellum as well, but it may be quite relevant. Of course the main reason why it's hard to have these kinds of conversations is that we don't all use the same definition of what "intelligence" means.
- Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 2y agoThe cerebellum is not, afaik, relevant to intelligence in any way shape or form. There are case studies of people with more or less complete agenesia (=lack) of the cerebellum who didn't know about it until they went into an MRI for unrelated reasons. Iirc they mostly had below average motor skills but that's it.