The_Face_of_Boo wrote:
To be fair, there's no way yet to tell if Neanderthals were really less intelligent. In fact, there are strong evidences that they were not less intelligent than us.
As about the brain and large muscle mass thing, well Gorilla have larger muscle mass yet their brain is smaller than humans; so it's not always that.
Yes, their is a lot of re-evaluation going on with Neanderthals lately. The main problem being that data is scarce and so speculation must be greater.
And true there are not many hard and fast rules on brain size. Its not just quantity but also what the structure and complexity or 'quality' is.
But I am intrigued by this concept, that if you allow that muscle mass does require some management by the brain then what happens when Joe or Jane Average suddenly decides to become a muscle bound bodybuilder?
Where does the brain get the assets to manage all this new muscle ? Is there 'free space' available to use, or must resources be taken from other areas ? Has anyone done a before and after IQ type test of Mr & Mrs Universes ?
But as far as the actual topic goes Idk. Maybe up the dowry a few cows and goats?
Women's brains are smaller but more efficient; using less brain cells to achieve the same task, it's due to more connections between them if I recall right. IQ averages are the same but the IQ bell curve is flatter for men, meaning more gifted males than females but also more mentally challenged; and all IQ studies show persisting results on the disparity in sub-scores between the genders: Spatial vs verbal...etc.