The Disadvantage of Smarts

Posted by paulsutter on Saturday June 16, 2012 @11:47AM
from the economist.com dept.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/06/quick-study-satoshi-kanazawa-intelligence

( 2 comments | 3 points | on HN )

Re:The Disadvantage of Smarts by hardwear on Saturday June 16, 2012 @12:24PM (#4120941)

However, for a few evolutionarily novel problems, evolution equipped us with general intelligence so that our ancestors could reason in order to solve them. These evolutionarily novel problems were few and far between.

This implies that the evolutionary selection of intelligence was sexual selection, that our brains evolved like a peacock's tail.

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Re:The Disadvantage of Smarts by api on Saturday June 16, 2012 @12:33PM (#4120962)

Loads of broad, sweeping, but mostly unsubstantiated statements presented in a catchy manner. Pop evolutionary psychology at its worst.

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