ANSWERS: 7
  • Hard to say. The average human's cerebral cortex is larger than it was 500 thousand years ago, but smaller than it was 100 thousand years ago. It seems that the means for information storage peaked about 100-200 thousand years ago. Whether people back then made use of that storage or not seems unclear, since we certainly don't have any written records from that time. As humans get more reliant on computers to store information for us, our cerebral cortex will likely continue to trend smaller, since there is no use having a big one and they do consume a lot of metabolic energy, which could be used more successfully to attract a mate in other ways.
    • DancesWithWolves
      Thanks for your comment well appreciated :)
  • I believe the population is being dumbed down, and is too reliant on technology.
    • DancesWithWolves
      Thanks for your comment well appreciated :)
  • Definitely.
    • DancesWithWolves
      Thanks for sharing your comment :)
  • info is so readily accessible via the internet, TV and books.
    • DancesWithWolves
      Thanks for sharing your comment :)
  • It depends how far you go back. I suspect we know about a broader range of things today but most people only have a fairly superficial knowledge of things outside of their specialities or local area.
    • DancesWithWolves
      Thanks for sharing your comment :)
    • bostjan the adequate 🥉
      Professor Yaffle, I know what you said is true, because I saw it in this article: https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-09-12/internet-turning-us-superficial-thinkers-says-researcher - I'd go into more detailed discussion about it, but I only read the headline.
    • Professor Yaffle
      "but I only read the headline" Thank you bostjan64!
  • No. I personally know way more than my mother did. She only graduated 8th grade and was mentally damaged in her frontal lobe. Ancestors knew about living and their trade. I learn more every day just by reading stuff online. I agree its superficial, but when I get a new diagnosis I read up on it. I have way more recipes on my computer than my mom did in her index card box, or more even than any book printed. I can look up how to grow just about anything and buy the seeds to do it, and they even have sites online that can tell you were the cheapest gasoline in your area is. I can get news articles immediately at the tip of my fingers, read books online and learn what everyone else is doing on social media faster than gossip!! I can learn about anything online! I think those who choose not to learn might be in that group.
  • It's a matter of time and thinking really. In the past there was not so much to occupy our minds as we went through a day, where today, I make the decision to take time to think on things. There is more information to know on most everything today too, so there is that.
    • Linda Joy
      " experts now estimate that by 2020, human knowledge will double every 12 hours." https://www.cio.com/article/3387637/thriving-in-a-world-of-knowledge-half-life.html#:~:text=Buckminster%20Fuller%20estimated%20that%20up,was%20doubling%20every%2025%20years.&text=In%20retrospect%2C%20this%20may%20sound,will%20double%20every%2012%20hours.

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