Things that don't go together, Ch. 9

Brain size and intelligence.

A dolphins brain is actually larger than a human brain.

But they are scarcely more intelligent than dogs--at least in the ways that humans measure intelligence.

A chimpanzee is also smarter than a dolphin, but with much less brain volume.

The difference in intelligence does not appear to be linked with size so much as plasticity and developmental history.

For example, the difference in brain volume between a neonatal chimp and an adult chimp is only about 20 percent.

Like chimps, dolphins are born with almost their complete repertoire of behavior already hardwired in.

By contrast, a human brain keeps growing though years of learning.  Our brains keep growing--unless we get stuck in some repetitive dead end job, or we watch too much of the endless Republican primary debates.

This is probably why my mom during her middle age years (of almost 70) wants to learn spanish, and has rekindled her piano playing skills.

And its probably behind the craze of Baby Mozart where the infant child is exposed to complex classical music with the belief that this sort of stimulation at at early age will further brain growth.

But why not take this one step further?

If data received during post-natal growth is so crucial to intelligence, could we boost our intelligence even further by intervening in the womb during the earliest stages of brain development?

I'm talking TV screens embedded in the womb.  Or at the very least little nanobots which can get in there to give them instructions in Chinese or Russian.  Or quantum physics.

Baby baby you ain't seen nothing yet...

You ain't been around...