From: Danny Iny (danny@dandesign.co.il)
Date: Sat 25 Oct 2003 - 09:39:57 GMT
> At 09:05 AM 10/24/2003 +0100, Derek wrote:
> > > One question is why we were the only mammal to go so
> > > far?
> >
> >I used to wonder why, for example, there are no
> >reptile lineages that have evolved larger brains -
> >some did get as far as being bipedal and social. I
> >vaguely remember that the answer was something to do
> >with warm bloodedness, but I wonder if that argument
> >still holds in the light of more recent ideas about
> >warm bloodedness in dinosaurs?
> >
> >Is there a physiologist in the house?
>
>
> I've read over and over that brains are very energy expensive to operate.
I
> think it is something like a ration of the brain being only 2% body weight
> but consuming 20% of the calories. I can recall (but not find) an article
> that hypothesized the calorie demands of a larger brain could not be met
> until we became more carnivorous.
>
> I think that the presumption has always been that tool use and greater
> socialization required larger brains and that the fitness reward
> compensated for the increased cost in calorie consumption.
>
> Ray Recchia
>
Guys, I'm pretty sure these references are made in 'How the Mind Works', by
Steven Pinker.
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