The human brain is getting smaller due to evolution

[INTJMom]

...

We are getting increasingly stupid.

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I have long believed this. People think ancient man evolved from apes and we have been getting smarter ever since. If we're so much smarter, we should be able to build pyramids and move 20,000 pound hewn stones up mountains... or at least be able to figure out how THEY did it!

 

[Oaky]

Because the Egyptians had developed rocket science? Seriously, what kind of dumb comparison is that?

And we have developed structures like the pyramids?

You haven't got my point. For the knowledge they had, they were pretty intelligent to create such a structure. But for the knowledge we have, why can't we make something as phenomenal as they did for our time?

 

[Feops]

People with the largest heads are the smartest? "Maybe we don't need our brains as much"? What type of insights are these?

All this does is give whiny doomsayers some "aha I told you so humanity is stoopid" ammunition.

 

[Haphazard]

Because the Egyptians had developed rocket science? Seriously, what kind of dumb comparison is that?

I agree, it's a dumb comparison. The sort of architecture doesn't really have anything to do with our advances in rocket science, it has to do with lack of anthropological/ancient architectural/whatever knowledge and research.

How were they so accurately designed? Has anybody guessed trial an error yet? Imagine you have all the time in the world...

 

[Oaky]

How were they so accurately designed? Has anybody guessed trial an error yet? Imagine you have all the time in the world...

Just to let you know the great pyramid not only from the outside but from the inside are built in such a way that there's a window where during the revolving of the earth can align with the sun so it would shine the majestic tomb on the pharoh's birthday.

 

[FDG]

And we have developed structures like the pyramids?

You haven't got my point. For the knowledge they had, they were pretty intelligent to create such a structure. But for the knowledge we have, why can't we make something as phenomenal as they did for our time?

And we have a million times more knowledge, doesn't it mean that we are phenomenal for our times? We can make skyscrapers, how do you know an egyptian wouldn't find them absolutely incredible as much as we find pyramides incredible? How did we get all our knowledge, if not by means of intelligence?

 

[ajblaise]

^ I haven't actually. Though I kinda figured someone would make a remark along those lines.

(this was in response to ajblaise)

Oh, you should see it. It should be an NT rite of passage.

But for the knowledge we have, why can't we make something as phenomenal as they did?

A lack of slave labor and incentive to spend multiple lifetimes building giant symbolic monuments to the Gods.

 

[Risen]

There are many great things ancient people knew, such as the Mayans and Incas and their incredibly complex understanding of the planets and the stars. The Egyptians and their incredible architecture and building methods (and Coral Castle being of the same sort of mystery). All the unexplained esoteric shit that even our modern understanding of the world cannot allows us to explain, but somehow ancient people could. That doesn't mean they were smarter, it just means somewhere in our past we had access to different technologies unlike what we have today. Hell, they even had ancient batteries and machines that archaeologists have discovered, but we have no clue how they were used. Life does not follow a linear path as fools like Darwin have suggested. I reject Darwin and a majority of his conclusions and the implications thereof.

 

[Billy]

Human intelligence is declining. Find me a man who can design the pyramids like it's architect and I would consider thinking otherwise. We don't have that genius anymore.
Of course there is rocket science and all that but that can be learnt within a matter of years whereas no one has yet figured out how the pyramids were so accurately designed.

I can build pyramids if you give me enough slaves.

 

[Risen]

Oh, you should see it. It should be an NT rite of passage.



A lack of slave labor and incentive to spend multiple lifetimes building symbolic monuments to the Gods.

It's technologically impossible to build what they did, no matter how many slaves you use. If it were a matter of manpower, we could do it today with mechanical power. But we can't. Scientists admit that.

 

[Haphazard]

Just to let you know the great pyramid not only from the outside but from the inside are built in such a way that there's a window where during the revolving of the earth can align with the sun so it would shine the majestic tomb on the pharoh's birthday.

Well, that's neat.

There's a sculpture at the University of Chicago that has a shadow that aligns to make a hammer-and-sickle shape every May Day.

I never said the ancient Egyptians weren't smart.

 

[FDG]

There are many great things ancient people knew, such as the Mayans and Incas and their incredibly complex understanding of the planets and the stars. The Egyptians and their incredible architecture and building methods (and Coral Castle being of the same sort of mystery). All the unexplained esoteric shit that even our modern understanding of the world cannot allows us to explain, but somehow ancient people could. That doesn't mean they were smarter, it just means somewhere in our past we had access to different technologies unlike what we have today. Hell, they even had ancient batteries and machines that archaeologists have discovered, but we have no clue how they were used. Life does not follow a linear path as fools like Darwin have suggested. I reject Darwin and a majority of his conclusions and the implications thereof.

The bottom line is, that they were exactly the same species as we are, as smart as we are, thus they could have easily created a completely *different* but equally *complex* theory and application of *whatever*.

 

[ajblaise]

It's technologically impossible to build what they did, no matter how many slaves you use. If it were a matter of manpower, we could do it today with mechanical power. But we can't. Scientists admit that.

So I'm guessing you subscribe to the "space alien" theory.

 

[Risen]

Well, that's neat.

There's a sculpture at the University of Chicago that has a shadow that aligns to make a hammer-and-sickle shape every May Day.

I never said the ancient Egyptians weren't smart.

These ancient people knew a GREAT deal about astronomy and the movements of the stars and planets, things in some cultures we are only just now discovering through our modern scientific methods. How they obtained such knowledge with the technology we think they DIDN'T have is inexplicable.

 

[Risen]

So I'm guessing you subscribe to the "space alien" theory.

I subscribe to the we don't know shit theory. Hard for some people to admit.

The bottom line is, that they were exactly the same species as we are, as smart as we are, thus they could have easily created a completely *different* but equally *complex* theory and application of *whatever*.

Right. And consider they different ways of thinking human beings probably had so many thousands of years ago and you can understand how technology could've taken a completely different course.

 

[ajblaise]

I subscribe to the we don't know shit theory. Hard for some people to admit.

Really? You just said manpower alone can't build the pyramids. So much for that theory.

 

[Night]

The bottom line is, that they were exactly the same species as we are, as smart as we are, thus they could have easily created a completely *different* but equally *complex* theory and application of *whatever*.

I think people are quick to overestimate the supposed impossibility of the Great Pyramids construction.

Here's a link that offers professional engineering rationale. No hocus pocus. Just tens of thousands of workers over a handful of decades.

Here's a snippet:

Based on our program management approach and our informed guesses we concluded that the total project required an average workforce of 13,200 persons and a peak workforce of 40,000 and that it required two to three years of site preparation, five years of pyramid construction, and two years of ramp removal, decoration, and other ancillary tasks. Assembling a workforce of this size—and feeding it—appear to have been well within the capabilities of the Egyptian economy at that time if the population was in fact 1 million to 1.5 million.

 

[Risen]

Really? You just said manpower alone can't build the pyramids. So much for that theory.

Don't be an ignoramus. I said by all of our calculations most scientists can't account for how such a structure could be built, with sheer manpower. Saying they just took a bunch of people and did it somehow without substantial proof or calculation is an unscientific leap of faith.

 

[Haphazard]

These ancient people knew a GREAT deal about astronomy and the movements of the stars and planets, things in some cultures we are only just now discovering through our modern scientific methods. How they obtained such knowledge with the technology we think they DIDN'T have is inexplicable.

How old are humans, as a species?

Very, very, very old. I still hold that this could be discovered by trial and error.

There were so many opportunities for knowledge to be lost, you know, by people killing each other. Just because you're smart doesn't mean that if an arrow gets stuck through your skull you won't die. Even if we have a society full of geniuses, no matter how much astronomy they knew, they're still cannon fodder for the civilization next door with better weapons.

 

[FDG]

I think people are quick to overestimate the supposed impossibility of the Great Pyramids discussion.

Here's a link that offers professional engineering rationale. No hocus pocus. Just tens of thousands of workers over a handful of decades.

Here's a snippet:

Based on our program management approach and our informed guesses we concluded that the total project required an average workforce of 13,200 persons and a peak workforce of 40,000 and that it required two to three years of site preparation, five years of pyramid construction, and two years of ramp removal, decoration, and other ancillary tasks. Assembling a workforce of this size—and feeding it—appear to have been well within the capabilities of the Egyptian economy at that time if the population was in fact 1 million to 1.5 million.

Yeah, I don't know shit about the precise matter, I was just trying to offer a general rationale.