Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: r9etb
Finally, there's the problem of defining "intelligence."

That's actually the almost the entire problem. Likewise, one mustn't confuse intelligence with learning. I would guess (based on pretty good evidence) that the ancient Egyptians were every bit as intelligent as we are today, but they just didn't know as much (not counting what we have forgotten.)

179 posted on 01/08/2004 2:38:39 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 172 | View Replies ]


To: Doctor Stochastic
That's actually the almost the entire problem. Likewise, one mustn't confuse intelligence with learning. I would guess (based on pretty good evidence) that the ancient Egyptians were every bit as intelligent as we are today, but they just didn't know as much (not counting what we have forgotten.)

OTOH, we do know that there are heritable and selectable "intelligence traits," as any dog breeder can tell you, as evidenced by the suitability of certain breeds for certain tasks. So it's not at all implausible to assume that the differences between, say, the Egyptians and the folks in equatorial Africa were due to something more than learning.

182 posted on 01/08/2004 2:46:01 PM PST by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 179 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson