Chapter 14: More than Human

• Brain and Superbrain
• What abilities might a larger brain yield?
• Long paths: "Think it through"
• Being able to more fully explore the ramifications of a decision.
• Branching paths: "The continuity of self"
• Being able to recall the way that you were
• Example: when you were younger
• Stations at the ends of paths: "Phaedrus' knfie"
• Able to make very fine distinctions.
• (Why did the Boskops die out)
• Maybe they didn't want to spread like H. Sapiens
• Maybe they never reached a "critical population mass" where intelligence could have been more useful.
• New Paths, New Humans
• Speculation on how structural changes could have been triggered by minor gene changes.
• The Final Path to Humans
• Early mammals probably had brains that were focused on olfaction and audition.
• When mammals moved out of nocturnal niches, they had more brain development in the visual regions.
• Human beings are strongly auditory
• Human infants are more auditory than visual
• Audition would be useful to a language oriented species
• Neanderthals may have been more visual (larger anterior cortex)
• Genetic control of brain growth is very imprecise
• Stadium analogy
• Inconstant Brain
• Domestication of foxes
• Dmitry K. Belyaev's experiment in the 1950's
• Bred foxes for docility
• 30 to 35 generations
• Bred a group of foxes that were friendly to humans
• How were they different
• Physical
• Floppy ears
• Rolled up tail
• Coats of more than one color
• Mental/Chemical
• Higher levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin
• Brain - uknown
• Rat breeding in the 1930's
• Bred for maze running.
• Could achieve the same results with normal rats by putting them in a maze for a few weeks.
• Next Steps
• Asperger's high functioning group
• If they moved to an island
• Transhumanists - directed evolution
• Using drugs that enhance learning abilities
• Resurrect the Boskops --- using their DNA
• Coda
• Boskops may have died out because of infant and mother mortality
• Perhaps they were wiped out by more warlike humans
• Perhaps they still exist and just blend in with the rest of humanity
• Anecdote about Boskop grave