Big Brain: the Origins and Future of Human Intelligence

This tile offers a radical and groundbreaking look at the future of brain engineering. The authors are forerunning scholars in the future of brain engineering, memory enhancement and the study of human intelligenceThe Boskops were super geniuses, outdistancing our current brain capacity. From them, we learn how far to take the new science of brain enhancement.Both authors have been featured in magazines such as Forbes and Wired, and are comfortable and competent appearing on radio and...
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This tile offers a radical and groundbreaking look at the future of brain engineering. The authors are forerunning scholars in the future of brain engineering, memory enhancement and the study of human intelligenceThe Boskops were super geniuses, outdistancing our current brain capacity. From them, we learn how far to take the new science of brain enhancement.Both authors have been featured in magazines such as Forbes and Wired, and are comfortable and competent appearing on radio and TV.This title features beautiful representations of the brain in all of its complexity.Our big brains, our language ability, and our intelligence make us uniquely human. But barely 10,000 years ago human-like creatures called 'Boskops' flourished in South Africa. They possessed extraordinary features: forebrains roughly 50 per cent larger than ours, and estimated IQs to match - far surpassing our own. Many of these huge fossil skulls have been discovered over the last century, but most of us have never heard of this scientific marvel. Prominent neuroscientists Gary Lynch and Richard Granger compare the contents of the Boskop brain and our own brains today, and arrive at startling conclusions about our intelligence and creativity. Connecting cutting-edge theories of genetics, evolution, language, memory, learning, and intelligence, Lynch and Granger show the implications of large brains for a broad array of fields, from the current state of the art in Alzheimer's and other brain disorders, to new advances in brain-based robots that see and converse with us, and the means by which neural prosthetics - replacement parts for the brain - are being designed and tested. The authors demystify the complexities of our brains in this fascinating and accessible book, and give us tantalizing insights into our humanity - its past, and its future.