NOT True. It is a jester's tale that we use only 10% of our brain....and it keeps going and going.... I dont remember Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!. But could be true under certain circumstances. It is how one uses it. It is that Nerd vs Jock issue...
How 50 000 (Give or take) our minds had a "Big Bang". We started using them as we do today. 100 000 years ago, same brain size, same species, however they were much dumber (brain did not function as it now does). Much much much dumber. Same brain, we more intelligent than our ancestors. Prefect example of how brain size does not dictate intelligence. We also had the same EQ ratio =P. (Btw, there is currently no static theory about what caused the "minds big bang") About the 10% thing, even the best of us get caught in wivestales (If you pardon the pun). =)
couple comments Neanderthals ARE humans: species, Homo sapiens. There is NO "races" concept in human evolutionary genetics. There is evidence of genetic distinctiveness between human geographic populations. There's no evidence that Neanderthals were "dumber." They were probably as smart or smarter.
s Neanderthals by most experts are thought to be different. You're thinking of the minority opinion, they are not Homo Sapiens. There are many physical differences. Also, Neanderthals have been THEORIZED to be dumber. This can be interpolated from cranial structure and also bone strucutre. Remember, THEORY............. theory. I'm not saying you're wrong, all i'm saying is you're in the minority.
I don't doubt it. But I wonder if such dairy foods remained a delicacy or were as common as in Europe.
Re: How where is the evidence for the humans of 50,000 yeas ago being dumber? I mean, its not like we have a bunch of 50,000 year old IQ tests laying around.
There is much development in tools used and also a huge change in behavior. It is easy to see something occurred to our brains. We lived hundreds of thousands of years with no wihtout change, at 50 000 change occurs. Anthropologists don't agree on how it happened, but they all agree that it did. The "Minds big bang" is one of the things that most anthropologists agree upon. There are also other factors they used which I cannot remember, but at the time of study it all made sense. Hope that helps!
I think, in time series, the changes are exponential rather than one big bang and linear development. If we take the bigbang theory, then we must have had another bang in about 1945, in comaprision to the past 2000 years. Another in 1995 and another may come in 2025. When one plots the discontinuos and step functions with a long exponent and the step function amplitude itself rising in a log scale - it is a whole different story. If one group died out because of external factors (virus, meteor etc) does not mean they were dumber - may be they were late bloomers that did not have a chance.... Some say the Afrikans are dumber as a group - but the same people moved to other parts and raised from childhood adjust well to society. May be there are other factors here at play....just a thought....
I know! I get atleast one email a week per email address to share their 30 million dollars in the strong box in a hiding place somewhere in Nigeria! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
There are no races From my reading, which has been quite deliberate because I am a active anti-racist, the DNA of different populations is not sufficiently or consistently different from one group to another to justify sub-categorising Homo Sapiens Sapiens. In fact, it seems that there is greater genetic differentiation between east as opposed to west Africans than there is between either of these groups and any other human population. This would, in turn, arise from this having been the earliest population split in human history.
Dudes, I am surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. Intelligence has mostly to do with the number of neuron connections and how it is connected. It is not proven because we don't know how brain really works officially, but it is a very widely accepted hypothesis. Every time you learn something you make new connections or re-arrange existing connections in some way. Now the question is can our offsprings benefit from our life experience by inheriting some of our neural connections. If humans can increase the complexity of our neural networks generations after generations, that would explain how we can be smarter than 5000 years ago.
Active anti-racism Yes, Adam, it includes being intolerant of the social & political intolerance of racists, in the sense of opposing their views, activities and policies when these are played out in the public arena, as has recently been the case in the North of England (the British National Party), among other places in the western world. Where possible, courtesy of open internet forums, it can nowadays also involve publically debating their policies and ideology. Unfortunately, they are typically extremely reluctant to enter into a detailed defence of either. Indeed, it is their very lack of openness about their intentions which makes them beyond the pale as far as most people are concerned.
Neanderthal: Distinct species of human due to DNA characteristics Human; yes. Same as Homo Sapien; No If there can be more than one distinct species of human on the same planet, could this hold true for other worlds
Howlin Wolf So what you're saying is, some intolerance is okay and some isn't. And your type of intolerance is acceptable? Based on your beliefs? And because your intolerance is based on your beliefs, that makes it better than any other kind of intolerance?
Adam Mmmm! Interesting that you seem uninterested in what I contributed to the issue this thread is concerned about but want instead to entrap me in some 'logic' of your own construction in order to 'demonstrate' a fundamental flaw in opposing racism. I think I have explained that I actively debate with racists when the opportunity arises. Is this intolerance in the sense of seeking to deny them their voice? - I think not! Could you please do what I have done and come clean about your own beliefs about racism? In particular, could you address the issue which this thread is all about?
Certainly. As in many things, I'm quite happy for everyone to have different beliefs, as long as they don't harm each other over them. I don't really care if people hate each other based on skin colour or whatever. As long as it remains only words, and does not become physical. I once saw on the news a rally in New York of KKK/neo-NAZI types. Opposing them was a large crowd of "active anti-racists". The anti-racists started the violence, started throwing things and hitting the KKK types with signs and such. Personally, I would much prefer the company of the KKK types, regardless of what I think of their opinions; they proved themselves much safer and more humane than the anti-racists. Simply put, whether it is about race or ideology, anti-racists are logically the very same thing as racists; they are against some portion of the community based on beliefs, race, whatever. And like the NAZIs, they (some of them at least) are willing to use violence to press their beliefs.
IMHO: The new connections are like new programs you buy for your computer after it was bought from the store, then you create new programs and documents. The way you use the system defines how you are going to buy the next computer from the store. But not the documents and other items that you created. Similarly, your children can inherit the connection methodology but not the connection themselves or the data. This is a slight impovement (nature does not like radical improvement) over you as far as hardware is concerned but not the "data". Data must be accumulated by your kids to become intelligent. For lack of better terms, assume, you and your wife have each an IQ of 100, then you accumulated knowledge of 140 EQ points. Then, your child get an IQ of 110. Sometimes minor mutations can occur based on your grand-generations that can push the childs IQ higher even if you did not acquire PhDs. Either way, IQ as tested by standard tests tells a part of the story (we discussed this in another threads). One must have proper data and make connections the right way inorder to increase true IQ. Sometimes I find certain music in the background increases my ability to solve complex problems while at other times it distracts. Anyway...yes, I think kids do inherit the propensity to make the connections the right way - but if the stimulus is not present, that connection may not happen. This idea should be further investigated...
Adam 1 What do you have to say about whether or not there are different races? 2 Can you not see a moral difference between opposing something about a person which they can change (their beliefs) and opposing them because of something they can't (their skin colour)? 3 Is there nothing more local in Melbourne or Australia on which you can base your views about racists and their opponents, rather than on TV news items from a country thousands of miles away?
