Human Brainpower Bested

Sometimes I think we humans suffer from deep feelings of inferiority, because we so often tout reasons for our being best, or belonging to the better group. It's as if we are trying to convince ourselves of being superior, by expressing that my religion is better than yours, my team is number one, my kid is at the top of her class, and other such bolstered beliefs.

We especially fall into this game of snobbish notions when we compare humans to animals. Several hundred years ago it was an unquestioned conviction that we were absolutely superior to animals. We had utter faith in the divinely-created hierarchy, that placed God at the top, angels and other celestial beings next, humans next, and all the animals at the bottom. The major source of our supremacy was believed to be our brain—clearly larger and more complex than any other critter. And look around you... don't we dominate the planet? Is that not proof that we are number one?

That sense of superiority has been hard to deflate, but science has gradually been chipping away at our edifice of arrogance. Recent research is discovering many ways in which features of some animal brains, in fact, best ours. Here are a few examples.

Neurogenesis is the process of growth of new neurons, and thus compensates for the loss of neurons as a critter ages. Only in recent years have neuroscientists shown that we human oldsters do indeed create new neurons—though we get increasingly slower at doing so as we age. Yet we're bested by several animals, including some species of fish, who perform neurogenesis about 100 times faster than we do.

Secondly, we pride ourselves on our good memories, but chimps do much better at remembering. So do some species of birds and squirrels, who stash thousands of seeds in times of plenty, and then remember the locations, months later.

Thirdly, our sense of smell—a key brain function—is quite inferior to many animals, because that part of our brain (the olfactory bulb) devoted to smell is relatively small. A bear's olfactory bulb is five times the size of ours—even with a brain that is one-third the size of ours. The super smellers—sharks--devote one-third of their entire brain just to detecting smells.

Fourthly, our brain weighs about 2.5 pounds (1.2 kg). That is quite large, compared to our ape cousins, but a dolphin's brain weights 3.5 pounds (1.5 kg). And we are dwarfed by elephants and whales, whose brain weighs 11 pounds (5 kg). Now, brain size is not the sole governing factor... the brain-to-body mass ratio is a better measure, but even there we are overshadowed by our ocean-dwelling cousins.

Fifthly, without our GPS software on our smart phones, we are lost. Many folks today cannot even make use of a map.  Birds—especially pigeons—possess brain cells that are sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field. Rain or shine, sunny or nocturnally, they know their geographical location.

There are several other examples of how animal brains surpass ours, but that’s a good overall view. We may be the smartest (when is the last time you read about a pigeon winning at Jeopardy!?), but we trail animals in many brain functions. It might be useful for us to cultivate a little humility and recognize those brain functions where we are bested by the beasts.

Curtailed Cognition—Part 2

Let's return to humanity's dumbing down because of air pollution. What long-term consequences may result, if we do little to clean up our air? We already know that modern humans are dumber than our Cro-Magnon ancestors, who roamed Earth tens of thousands of years ago. Well, maybe not necessarily dumber, but their brains were at least 10% larger than ours. They probably needed to be smart in their environment, which had many more threats than ours. Today we don't need their smarts, because we've tamed our world. We no longer have to deal with the large predators they faced, or, for most of us, the threat of food shortages.

It's a fact that evolution kicks in when environmental circumstances change. Species adapt when their environment transforms. The brain is a very expensive organ to maintain. In humans, it sucks up some 30% of the energy we generate. If we can decrease the size of our brain and not suffer any consequences—say, because we live in a less risky world—then it makes sense for evolution to do so. All of humanity's domesticated animals—cattle, sheep, pigs—are dumber than their wild counterparts. Through breeding we've made them safe and tame...and less intelligent.

So an argument can be made that today we do not need the smarts we once did. In fact, you don't have to look far into modern culture for ample evidence that many people do not use all that much of their cognitive abilities anyway. So let the brain deteriorate a little; it doesn't require much intelligence to veg out on the couch in front of the TV, or compose 140-character Tweets.

There's yet another reason why we could let our cognition curtail a little, without suffering the consequences: our rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI). We already have computers that are far smarter than we are at certain narrowly-defined tasks, such as chess—let alone all the lightning-speed calculations they do. We soon may develop what's called artificial general intelligence (AGI), which will outsmart us in most every area. We can get dumber and dumber and live easier and easier, thanks to robots. It makes me wonder if we will one day willingly enter the Matrix, where we do nothing but live in our heads. Matrix living is the ultimate easy “life.”

Will your average person even care if his cognition is curtailed? Studies have shown that the actual amount of money that one makes is not nearly as important as how it compares to his neighbor's earnings. Keep his salary low and he won't complain, if his cohorts are making the same; but give his neighbor a raise and he'll howl loudly and long. So, if everyone is as dumb as everyone else, will it matter to anyone?

Nobody knows where this is going. We can't predict the future. What's more, we seem to be disinclined to do much about it, even if we can see the threat. It's so much easier to maintain the status quo... it's much less demanding.

A final question that speaks to me: Which is more important, to keep my brain from deteriorating any more, or fully use the cognitive power I've got? It is a shame to own a fine musical instrument, but never develop the skill to play it. Is it instead maybe better to own a mediocre instrument that I've learned to play well? It seems to me that many people already squander much of the cognitive capability they possess.