|
|
Re: complexity
cc3265@CNSVAX.ALBANY.EDU
14 Nov 1995 23:19:31 GMT
In article <1995Nov13.145224.15582@arl.mil>, Troy Kelley <tkelley@hel4.brl.mil> writes:
>I think you guys are thinking about this all wrong.
>
>First off, some books quote dolphine brains as being larger than ours.
>
>"The human brain weighs 1,400 grams, and the dolphin's 1,700. The
>dolphin's cerebral cortex is larger than ours. It has twice the number
>of convolutions, and 10 to 40 percent more nerve cells" (sorry I don't
>have a page number)
As I understand it (and I heard this at a dissertation defense, so, I'm
sorry, I don't have a reference), dolphins do have large brains relative
to body size, but their brains have expanded more in the temporal lobes,
while most of ours is in the frontal. This makes sense, given that dolphins
rely so much on auditory stimuli. As far as arguments over intelligence
goes, I think it would be hard to make a valid comparison -- obviously,
as you pointed out, animals are smart in different ways, depending on their
specializations. "Intelligence" is a rather ill-defined concept. On the
other hand, humans have obviously taken over the globe & everything on it,
so I'd say our form of intelligence has the upper hand. :) I also,
incidently, don't believe the intelligence is necessarily totally correlated
with *brain size*. It probably has much more to do with organization,
wiring, and chemistry.
Caroline
|