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Brain size


Starry_eyes

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Hello,

I've been reading about pre-human archeological finds, and I was interested by homo-ergaster because many sources credit them with relatively advanced tools, the discovery of fire, stone sculpture, and maybe even language. But then I read that they only had 850cc brain capacity compared to a modern 1400cc, and I'm wondering how much brain capacity is actually needed for modern living? You hear sometimes of people who are missing half their brains or even more, who are able to think and talk. There's the common saying that people only use ten percent of their brains, but experts disagree and say we use all of it. But if we are using all of it, how did homo-ergaster manage to achieve as much as they did with so much less capacity? I suppose if you selectively eliminated parts of the brain like the ability to lie and deceive, that would leave more space for other things and maybe speed up progress. But somehow I doubt that evolution would choose things so conveniently? Any thoughts?

Brain size its self is complex, a larger brain does not always equate to more intelligence as the brain controls nearly every aspect of your body. It allows for mental processes yes, but you need it to co-ordinate you muscles, to release hormones, to control the stimulus imputs your body recieves. Also, the bigger you are the larger your brain has to be to do this and variations in the strength and the number of the senses too. Your right to say the 10% thing is nonsense as well, we use all of it, there is not an area of brain that does not have its function known.

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what about homo floresiensis? they apparently had a brain size of 380cc and they found stone tools with the fossils. it's speculated that homo sapians made the tools but from what i've read that's mainly because it's hard to believe a creature with such a small brain could have made such sophisticated stone tools and if it were not for the small brain size they would assume that homo floresiensis made the tools due to the close association between the tools and the fossils. the virtual endocasts that they created revealed large parts of the frontal lobe and other anatomical features consistent with higher cognitive processes.

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what about homo floresiensis? they apparently had a brain size of 380cc and they found stone tools with the fossils. it's speculated that homo sapians made the tools but from what i've read that's mainly because it's hard to believe a creature with such a small brain could have made such sophisticated stone tools and if it were not for the small brain size they would assume that homo floresiensis made the tools due to the close association between the tools and the fossils. the virtual endocasts that they created revealed large parts of the frontal lobe and other anatomical features consistent with higher cognitive processes.

smaller organisms don't need as much brain.

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