3 ms·

I bet the cockroach brains are much less varied than ours, i.e., the variance of intelligence in a random sample population of cockroaches is much smaller than

• ikawe 12y ago
  How are you defining intelligence? And how would you measure variance of intelligence across cockroaches in a way that is relevant to a way that you measure intelligence across humans?
  • jckt 12y ago
    Maybe intelligence isn't the right word? As I understood m52go's comment, it's more like smaller brains -> less variations of "mind state" (as in state machines)? Hence less "variance of intelligence". Of course, I have no idea how a brain works, and it's unlikely that it's anything like a computer.
  • m52go 12y ago
    Intelligence--the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. That's how Google claims to define it, although frustratingly, it doesn't list its source. That seems like a reasonable definition. As a result, I think it's reasonable to say intelligence in humans is a lot more varied than intelligence in cockroaches. There are some humans who will never be as productive as the least productive cockroach. On the other hand, there are some humans who will create things more profound than the most productive cockroach. I assume I know what makes a cockroach productive...obviously I don't, but it's seems reasonable to me to assume that cockroaches haven't had their version of cockroach-on-the-moon moment. The day they do, we may be in trouble!
• deleted 12y ago
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