Evolution of Human Brains- African-American and European
Evolution of Human Brains- African-American and Europeanluxurysedanman
49 sec - Feb 23, 2008
These are typical skulls (according to the university website which I got the photos from) of typical African American and European patients (of the same age, and comparable height and weight). Now, to be fair, I have heard people say that due to the majority of black people having thinner skin and less fat, being from warmer continents they didn't need to as much fat, thick skin to survive as opposed to a caucasian who are from colder climates who needed more fat to survive. However, there is no fat within the skull cap, just outside the skull cap, so that argument is inconclusive since this video shows there is more space inside the skull cap of the European skull as opposed to the African-American skull. http://www.flickr.com/photos/12628996@N03/1344583933/ Also, people had stated things like "if tigers are so much larger then cats,why arent they smarter then cats" or "if youre saying that the brain size differs due to skull size then arent you saying that men and women have differential intelligence"? This is not what I am stating. Let me just say, it is not the physical size alone that determines the intelligence of an entity. It is the proportion, or the size of the brain in relation to the overall body size of an entity (be it human or otherwise) that determines intelligence. This is my view. It may not be your view but consider this: Humans have a higher brain to body mass ratio than any of these animals. Dolphins have the highest brain to body mass ratio of all cetaceans. Sharks have the highest for a fish, and octopuses have the highest for an invertebrate. Now, if you can name me a mammal smarter then a human or a fish that is more intelligent then a shark (for those who don't know a dolphin is a mammal not a fish :)) I would not believe my theory. However, both African-American and European humans are roughly the same height and weight on average so this theory does not hold. The physical size alone is not enough, one also has to focus on the relationship between the body and the brain. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Int3.html Many state that neanderthals had 10%bigger craniums than modern homo-sapiens and this may be true. They reject my theory stating the fact that they are extinct.However, neaderthals did not go extinct because of their possibly higher intelligence. They went extinct simply because there were two many homo sapiens living in Europe. Figures estimate that when they went extinct there was a 3:1 ratio in favor of the number of homo sapiens living there. The neanderthals died becuase they were overun by the sheer number of homo sapiens possibly due to territorial or cultural-based conflict. The reason you havent heard of a neaderthal solving the theory of relativity is because first off, their were so few living (you need synergy to solve more complex problems) and second there werent any materials to work with to create say, an automobile. Also the neanderthals were unlike humans in due to their reduced gait and inability to walk longer distances than homosapiens, which meant reduced food gathering and hunting mobility when came to scarser food sources. This physical inability put them at a greater disadvantage. Also, according to the following article, another major reason was not due to their mental capacities but to the shape of their larynx. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Neanderthals-were-too-smart-to-survive-15264.shtml Still others have stated things like "you are a rasict! This is a rasict video!". This is NOT a racist video. It is is a video that is based on a theory. A theory is an explanation of a problem based upon observations and experiments. I am merely stating fact based on the photos in this video, and am not expressing any proof that whites are smarter then blacks or vice versa. Notice the higher cranial vault on the European skulls, they are higher possibly indicating (I repeat, possibly) a higher level of intelligence. There has been an interesting study that has concluded that whites are smarter then blacks because they lived in less stable, harsher, and above all colder climates which allowed the matter in the brain to grow. Homo sapiens (human beings) moved out of Africa rougly 100,000 years ago. Seasonal migration caused this exodus. A further degree of seperation between Europeans and Africans was caused by the Mediterranean sea and the Sahara to the south of Europe could well have created significant changes in the way people lived life. For example, as you near the equator, the weather and length of day are the same and people wouldnt have needed to built anything more than a hut for a shelter. What do you think of this theory? http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_sap.htm