Re: (TFT) Skills and the poor Neanderthals

[Thomas Galen Ault <Thomas_Galen_Ault@chroma.sensor.ri.cmu.edu>]

A lot seems to be being made about how the ratio of a Neanderthal's brain-to-
body mass ratio is similar to ours, therefore their intelligence must have
been comparable to our own.  However, brain size (either relative
or absolute) alone does not indicate intelligence; the nature and quality
of the connections between neurons (e.g. how the brain is "wired") is
much more important.  Without living specimins to disect, we are forced
to draw conclusions from the artifacts they left behind.  On the basis of
what we have found so far, while Neaderthal tools are equal in quality
to early homo sapiens, the stone tools made by later homo sapiens are
superior in quality and quantity.  Furthermore, as someone else pointed out,
the Neaderthal's never seemed to have grasped the concept of ranged weapons
beyond the thrown rock.  Whether this was from a linguistic deficit or
from some other mental deficiency we can only speculate about.

Hence, the assumption made by TFT that Neaderthals have an IQ between
7 and 10 may be realistic.  Homo Sapiens Sapiens may have been much smarter
than their Neaderthal cousins, but it might have taken them a while to
invent superior tools.

Tom Ault
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"