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Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence

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In this groundbreaking look at the evolution of our brains, eminent neuroscientists Gary Lynch and Richard Granger uncover the mysteries of the outsize intelligence of our ancestors, who had bigger brains than humans living today. Weaving together history, science, and the latest theories of artificial intelligence, Lynch and Granger demystify the complexities of our brains, and show us how our memory, cognition, and intelligence actually function, as well as what mechanisms in the brain can potentially be enhanced, improving on the current design. Author of The Emotional Brain, Joseph LeDoux praised it as "provocative and fascinating," and, writing in the New Scientist, Willian Calvin called it "a popular account of how brains enlarge, in both evolutionary and developmental terms" and "a much needed book."

ISBN-13: 9781403979797

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Publication Date: 01-06-2009

Pages: 272

Product Dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

Series: MacSci

Gary Lynch is one of the most cited neuroscientists in the world and author of more than 550 scientific articles. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at Irvine. Richard Granger is the WH Neukom Distinguished Professor of Computational Sciences at Dartmouth. He is internationally recognized for his work in experimental neuroscience.

Table of Contents

1 Big Brains, Bigger Brains 1

Introduction 1

Biggest Brain 3

Are Bigger Brains Better? 5

Brain and Language 7

Were Boskops Smarter? 8

Why Haven't We All Heard of Boskops? 10

Outline of the Book 11

2 The Mind in the Machine 17

Learning Network Codes 18

Brain Circuits vs. Computer Circuits 23

The Brain of John Von Neumann 25

3 Genes Build Brains 33

How Much Variation Can Occur? 36

Blueprint Systems 38

Bundling Genes 40

Variation Is Random, but It Is Constrained 44

4 Brains Arrive 51

First Brains 52

Brain Expansion 58

5 The Brains of Mammals 63

Neurons and Networks 65

Learning 70

6 From Olfaction to Cognition 73

From Cortex to Behavior 80

Neocortex 84

7 The Thinking Brain 89

Extending Thinking over Time 93

The Cortex Takes Charge 96

8 The Tools of Thought 99

Feedback and Hierarchies of Cortical Circuits 99

Sequences 106

What One Brain Area Tells Another Brain Area 107

What's in an Image? 108

Putting It Together: From Generalists to Specialists 109

Memory Construction 110

Building High-level Cognition 113

Libraries and Labyrinths 114

Grammars of the Brain 116

9 From Brain Differences to Individual Differences 119

Brain Paths 122

Brain Tracts and Differential Abilities 125

Nature and Nurture 127

10 What's in a Species? 129

Definitions 131

Fallacies of the Notion of Race 132

Races Versus Gene Pools 135

11 The Origins of Big Brains 139

Brain Size in the Primates 141

Brain Size in the Family of Man 145

Big Babies 154

On Intelligence 157

12 Giant Brains 161

The Man of the Future 162

How Giant Brains Were Forgotten 165

Inside the Giant Brain 171

Giant Brains and Intelligence 175

13All but Human 179

On Science 179

Differences 182

From Quantity to Quality 189

From Brain Advances to Cognitive Advances 191

From Cognition to Language 193

Learning Curve 195

From Speaking to Writing 197

14 More than Human 201

Brain and Superbrain 201

New Paths, New Humans 204

The Final Path to Humans 205

Inconstant Brain 209

Next Steps 211

Code 214

Appendix 217

Acknowledgments 233

Bibliography 235

Index 255