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When I was a child, I once stepped on a small caterpillarand saw promptly started to cry. An older friend came over to comfort me butwhen he learned that I was distressed over killing the bug, he quicklyexplained that it was alright because caterpillars felt no pain-they had tinybrains. I think that in our culture, bigger is better, and this principle hascarried over to brain size. Many people believe that our unique intelligencecomes primarily from the size of our brains; because our brains are larger,they are able to hold more information. I think that this basic theory has somemerit- humans do have very large brains, but are they proportional to our bodysize, or are they actually abnormally large. The human brain, while largecompared with other animals of similar size, is not the largest animal brain.In fact, when Cuvier’s fraction (E/S E=brain weight, S=body weight) is used,humans and mice have roughly identical ratios. (Source: /bb/kinser/Int3.html)If size does not play a significant role, then what accounts for ourintelligence?

Some Possibilities:

-The presence of the neocortex- this is absent or reduced inless intelligent creatures, and it seems to show the greatest variety. From myunderstanding, the neocortex is in control of all higher order thinking, whichmay be a distinctly human process. I also think that the highly convolutednature of the neocortex allows for more efficient packing of brain matter.

-Do humans simply have more neurons that allow for moreconnections to be made throughout a lifetime, or are human neurons lessvulnerable to destruction?

-Does our intelligence come from the presence of the “mind?”Do other, less intelligent creatures possess a mind, or do they only have abrain?