Re: Homo Floresiensis Small Brain vs. Capability Conundrum

From: Lee Olsen (paleocity_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 01/27/05 

Date: 26 Jan 2005 21:24:39 -0800

adishavit@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Read about the HF discovery, and one of the major controversies was
> how such a small brain size was capable of such high-tech
capabilities
> comparable only to Homo Sapiens. I was puzzled that I have not seen
> mentioned one explanation that seems to me at least plausible.
>
> On the one hand, in the African savannah (and elsewhere) the
> ecological pressure to increase brain ability drove our species and
our
> ancestors toward bigger brains. The usual explanation.
>
> On the other hand, on the Flores island, ecological (and
> environmental) pressure drove HF and other species (e.g. Stegodon)
> toward smaller sizes.
>
> As I see it, there isn't necessarily a conflict between the two.
> In fact, they can probably happen in parallel.
>
> Please forgive the intuitive and unscientific terms I use in the
> following, and try to understand the general point, which I believe
is
> quite valid.
>
> Let us assume that "regular" brain mass (e.g. that of us and our
> ancestors) has a certain "intelligent" (or capability) efficiency per
> unit of volume. I guess you could call this unit the
> "intelligence-density". This makes sense in the notion that bigger
> brains allowed more capabilities.
>
> However, another way to increase capabilities or "intelligence" is to
> increase the brain density or the "intelligence-density" thus
requiring
> less volume for the same capabilities. As the saying goes "humans
only
> use 10% of their brains" so just increase this to 20% and you can use
a
> brain half the size.
>
> Perhaps, it is more evolutionarily expensive to do that than to
> increase the brain and skull size in the African savannah, but under
> the environmental pressure of an island the balance is changed and it
> is more efficient to increase the "intelligence-density" than
maintain
> a large body, head and brain.
> Does this make sense to anyone here?
> Thanks,
> Adi

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