Boskops
Ever heard of the Boskops? Apparently an extinct homonid species from 30K-10K years ago that had brain sizes considerably larger than current homo sapiens, with some arguing they were probably far more intelligent as a result.
I did a few other web searches and there's confusion on just what exactly the brain size means, how it's wired, selection pressures to smaller brains even today due to child mortality... but it's interesting these megabrains were out there not long ago.
Anyhow, thought the article and speculation was interesting.
4 comments:
Perhaps they were the lost people of Atlantis?
Or perhaps they really weren't all the bright after all... a very interesting article but also very presumptuous to assign an IQ average based solely on noggin size for all we know they were just big old water heads.
yeah, agree. the article talks about disagreement on basing IQ on brain size, and issues with how the brain is wired. Might not have translated to more smarts. My interpretation was that the key selective pressure at the time was not intelligence but something else. Very high intelligence seems a rather rare thing in the animal kingdom making me think it's only marginally important in most cases. Does make me wonder what a world of 150 IQs could achieve now though.
A world of 150 IQ's hmmm poses the question... would we know it? After all that would be the norm as much as 100 seems to be today. Although I'd argue the average is something closer to 50 based on many of my observations.
From my work - market analyst - it's amazing how much more and better work an the smartest people in the company can do vs. just avg. Maybe we could all be more productive and work 20 hrs a week and go home. I'd be all for that!
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