My - What big eyes you have

[EternalOptimist]

Neanderthals had bigger eyes, could see better in the dark, but didn't have much brain-case left over for high level thinking.
I'd buy this, except that eyes are just the passive detectors. Why would you need a larger processor for a larger detector ?


big eyes bad, little eyes good

[DimPrawn]

Is this why Richard Hammond is such an arse wipe?

[EternalOptimist]

Is this why Richard Hammond is such an arse wipe?

possibly. it also explains how Bilbo was able to get one over on Gollum

[mudskipper]

Sounds like a load of balls to me. Thought it was generally agreed that we only use a fraction of our brains anyway (some a bigger fraction than others...).

Reminds me of the early 20th century belief that the Negro was unintelligent as the shape of his skull squashed his brain, now completely debunked - the following is from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

NEGRO - LoveToKnow Article on NEGRO

"The intellect seemed to become clouded, animation giving place to a sort of lethargy, briskness yielding to indolence. We must necessarily suppose that the development of the negro and white proceeds on different lines. While with the latter the volume of the brain grows with the expansion of the brainpan, in the former the growth of the brain is on the contrary arrested by the premature closing of the cranial sutures and lateral pressure of the frontal bone."

[Gibbon]

Neanderthals had bigger eyes, could see better in the dark, but didn't have much brain-case left over for high level thinking.
I'd buy this, except that eyes are just the passive detectors. Why would you need a larger processor for a larger detector ?


big eyes bad, little eyes good

Assuming the larger eyes had more rods and cones then you would need more processing for the increase in data. A bit like the AEW Nimrod fiasco, originally designed to operate over sea, then changed to land where the radar picked up more 'targets', to filter them out they had more processors = more power = bigger gennies = not enough room and too fecking heavy.

[Ticktock]

Sounds like a load of balls to me. Thought it was generally agreed that we only use a fraction of our brains anyway (some a bigger fraction than others...).

Except it isn't. It's just often quoted.

[xoggoth]

If we only use a small part of our brains what is the rest doing? Maybe it is secretly plotting something sinister.

[MyUserName]

Sounds like a load of balls to me. Thought it was generally agreed that we only use a fraction of our brains anyway (some a bigger fraction than others...).

I thought that this was a misrepresentation of the fact that we only use a fraction of our brains at any one time, rather than at all?

[EternalOptimist]

If we only use a small part of our brains what is the rest doing? Maybe it is secretly plotting something sinister.

it's thinking 'I should be in charge around here. I'm big and brainy. Why does that little willy get to make all the decisions'

[mudskipper]

I thought that this was a misrepresentation of the fact that we only use a fraction of our brains at any one time, rather than at all?

When did we need to stick to facts in general?

I remember a bloke on the telly who'd basically wiped out one hemisphere of his brain in an explosion or shooting or something, and the other side compensated for it. I'm sure they said that our brains were under utilised.

Anyway, does that mean that if you go blind, all that brain that was used for processing visual data could be redeployed?