Building a better brain?

Discuss Physics, Astronomy, Cosmology, Biology, Chemistry, Archaeology, Geology, Math, Technology

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
playhavock
Guru
Posts: 1086
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:38 am
Location: earth

Building a better brain?

Post #1

Post by playhavock »

Computer AI has offen been looked at as something that is perhaps impossible but we are getting closer, living cells do better then chips do, but new ideas are always alowing us to make new things.

I want to look at the brain - it is a common thing in nature, what does a brain require to live, and could we build a better one "from scratch" using gentics, and/or technoligy. What is "required" for a brain - memory, imprinting ablity, recall and so on - do we require emotions for a brain? Concousness itself is said to be an emegerent properity from our brain, would a better brain have a better grasp on things?

User avatar
Divine Insight
Savant
Posts: 18070
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2012 10:59 pm
Location: Here & Now
Been thanked: 19 times

Post #2

Post by Divine Insight »

I just watched a program on this last night.

The most likely way that people will end up "Building Better Brains" will be through the use of genetic engineering. In fact, in the program I watched it is suggested that the extremely rich people will be the ones who end up becoming involved with genetically engineering their offspring. Whilst the rest of us will deteriorate to become morons. (ha ha)

In fact, there is actually an interesting theory about this. The theory suggests that different human cultures have indeed been evolving to different levels of intelligence along with entirely different ways of thinking as well. Their brains are actually evolving differently from other cultures.

Of course this is highly controversial and even labeled as being a "racist" view. None the less there are biologists who suggest that there is some truth to this. And they currently place orientals as being the more highly intelligent humans.

But don't take that too profoundly because the differences are slight, and they only apply to the cultures as a whole. The intelligence of any given individual within a culture can still span a very wide range.

None the less, this idea that some culture "were" evolving toward higher levels of intelligence perhaps more rapidly than other cultures, is actually being curbed by the fact that people from different cultures move around and intermarry with people from other cultures. Their "hybrid offspring" may lose any advantage that the original culture may have been heading toward.

There is also a theory that the random mixing of cultural DNA has an overall effect of degrading the positive effects of evolution. This no only applies to intelligence, but also to things like natural resistances to disease and other factors.

So some biologists are suggesting that as our world become more globally connected we will actually go through a period of "devolution" Or degraded evolution to where we may actually back-slide to a lower level of intelligence and disease resistance.

In any case, the idea of purposeful genetic engineering, or even simply purposeful genetic selection, may actually prove to become a powerful way of assuring evolution toward a more intelligent species.

A very rich person could actually choose specific DNA to combine and literally create a very large "family" of offspring based entirely on that preselected DNA.

This could either be done through test-tube babies, or possible through volunteer surrogate mothers.

For all we know there may be rich people, or even governments, who are actually doing this as we speak.
[center]Image
Spiritual Growth - A person's continual assessment
of how well they believe they are doing
relative to what they believe a personal God expects of them.
[/center]

User avatar
Nilloc James
Site Supporter
Posts: 1696
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Canada

Post #3

Post by Nilloc James »

The theory suggests that different human cultures have indeed been evolving to different levels of intelligence along with entirely different ways of thinking as well. Their brains are actually evolving differently from other cultures.
The data disagrees with this assessment.

There are so many environmental factors and other things that group differences are explained in their entirety.

Basically you are reiterating The Bell Curve

Post Reply