The Dragon's of Eden on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

The existence of these genius microcircuits suggests that information may not only be related to mentality mass, but alike to the number of such microcircuits, since they make variant judgment states possible. Indeed, studies in rats have shown that learning is accompanied by an increase in mass of the cerebral cerebral cortex of the brain (p. 45). This suggests that the bigger the cerebral cortex, the easier it may be to learn, and that cerebral cortex size can therefore correlate with wisdom. Further experiments in rats have verified that within several weeks of learning pertly tasks, rats develop new neural branches in the cortices that form synapses.

Sagan sees the exploitation through time of the amount of information contained in the inheritable material and the amount of information contained in the brain. The two curves of these figures, when plotted, interbreed at a few hundred million days ago, a time when organisms, for the first time in history, had to a gr eradicateer extent information in their brains than in their genes, and this made the brain a symbolic turning point in history. The emergence of mammals, and the after emergence of man-like primates were important advances in the evolution of intelligence (p. 47).

The theory of the tripartite human brain that Sagan discusses comes from the work of capital of Minnesota MacLean, chief of the Laboratory of Brain Evolution and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Church, J. H. (2000). Policy change may undermine alternatives. Animal's Agenda, 20, pp. 12-13.

Born, M. (1962). Einstein's Theory of Relativity. rising York, NY: Dover Publications.

Fraser, C. (2000, November). The left hand of darkness. Los Angeles Times, p. 1.

As an example of how useful animal experimentation can be, researchers in Scotland have authentic a rule for cloning large animals that ar b arly endowed with valuable genes or lack particularized inapplicable genes, an advance that now makes possible the creation of large animals that are born with human genetic diseases for study (Weiss, 2000). This research is also expected to speed the development of cloned pigs bearing humanized organs for transplantation.

The method may also allow scientists to permanently remove from cows the genes responsible for mad cow disease, an intractable ailment which causes a fatal brain disease in people who eat infected beef. Further, it could provide a way to engineer specific traits in human cells.

Sagan states that the essential human quality which distinguishes humanity is its intelligence (p. 197). This is due to the tremendous evolution in the size of the neocortex in man compared to other animals. The size and record of the neocortex allows for millions of neural connections, which allow for more numerous brain states than in any other creature with a neocortex, and therefore a potential for higher intelligence. While our basic functions and our emotions are shared by lower animals, it is our ability to think abstractly which sets us apart even from other mammals.

Weiss, R. (2000, June). Cloning sheep with customized genes: bestride in Scotland may help study of human disease. capital of the United States Post, p. A1.

While statistics are sketchy, reports suggest that the number of animals used for research lab research in Europe have dropped substantially in the last 20 years (Koenig, 1999). Numbers of animals used in Germany dropped 40 perce
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