Book Review: Dragons of Eden
The Dragons of Eden: Speculation on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. The author, Carl Sagan discusses the search for a quantitative means of measuring intelligence. He takes us on a great reading adventure, offering his vivid and startling insights into the brains of humans and beasts, the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most haunting legends and their amazing links to recent discoveries.
Sagan talks about the search for an accurate way of measuring intelligence. He argues that the brain to body mass ratio is an extremely good way to calculate intelligence, with humans having the highest ratio and dolphins the second highest, though he views the trend as breaking down at smaller scales, with some small animals, like ants, place disproportionately high on the list. Other topics mentioned include the evolution of the brain, the evolutionary purpose of sleep and dreams, demonstration of sign language abilities by chimps and the purpose of mankind's innate fears and myths. The title "The Dragons of Eden" is borrowed from the notion that man's early struggle for survival in the face of predators, and in particular a fear of reptiles, may have led to cultural beliefs and myths about dragons and snake.
Sagan talks about the search for an accurate way of measuring intelligence. He argues that the brain to body mass ratio is an extremely good way to calculate intelligence, with humans having the highest ratio and dolphins the second highest, though he views the trend as breaking down at smaller scales, with some small animals, like ants, place disproportionately high on the list. Other topics mentioned include the evolution of the brain, the evolutionary purpose of sleep and dreams, demonstration of sign language abilities by chimps and the purpose of mankind's innate fears and myths. The title "The Dragons of Eden" is borrowed from the notion that man's early struggle for survival in the face of predators, and in particular a fear of reptiles, may have led to cultural beliefs and myths about dragons and snake.