The limits of human intelligence (or, why elves are evolutionarily implausible)

[shangrila]

I'm of the opinion that the "we only use 10% of our brains" idea is a myth. Maybe we only use only 10% at a time, but we have lot of different areas in the brain that have different functions. You can't just say 90% of our grey matter is totally useless.

Yeah, this has been proven. If you're interested, the misconception originally came from a misquote. The original guy said that we only use 10% of our brains at any one time, but when it got published that last part was cut off, creating the myth.

 

[ALB2012]

I like thought-provoking articles like this, but elves will continue to be in fantasy regardless of whether it's possible for them to exist or not. A giant flying lizard that breathes fire can't really evolve to be able to speak multiple languages, but those exist in fantasy also.

I was going to say that. I think its fantasy that is sort of the point You don't often get wizards either.

 

[ALB2012]

I'm of the opinion that the "we only use 10% of our brains" idea is a myth. Maybe we only use only 10% at a time, but we have lot of different areas in the brain that have different functions. You can't just say 90% of our grey matter is totally useless.

You havent met some of the people I work with

 

[Robert Donnell]

First read about The Bell Curve:

The Bell Curve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You will see the human intelligence can go quite high. 2.5% of Humans have an IQ greater than 130, with a brain weight up to 1.400g. Neanderthals had brains as large as 1,700g, so humans have some room to grow intellectually, I am guessing way past an IQ of 200+.

 

[Fnord]

First read about The Bell Curve:

The Bell Curve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You will see the human intelligence can go quite high. 2.5% of Humans have an IQ greater than 130, with a brain weight up to 1.400g. Neanderthals had brains as large as 1,700g, so humans have some room to grow intellectually, I am guessing way past an IQ of 200+.

There's a can of worms waiting to be opened.


In all honesty, I sort of groan whenever some expert or another comes out and says we have hit the limit of "X" in regards to humanity (whether X = population limits, civilization, intelligence, resources, wealth, innovation, etc) because people have been saying it for centuries in some form or another (Thomas Malthus is the most obvious example that springs to mind). Humans are pretty damn resourceful and we're pretty good at "outsourcing" things, such as computing power, in ways that transcend physical limitations.

But pessimism sells.