Neuroscientists Say Human Brains Have Reached Peak Evolution
Human brains have reached an evolutionary "sweet spot", where further change would have serious trade-offs.
Despite what sci-fi writers have done with the idea that we “only use 10% of our brains”, researchers seem to point to the fact that, for now at least, we’ve maxed out our cognitive capacity. In movies like Limitless, people with enhanced brainpower are able to see into the future, remember everything they’ve ever experienced, or read other people’s minds. However, the reality is that our evolution seems to have hit a “sweet spot”, as psychologists Thomas Hill and Ralph Hertwig say, and can’t get much smarter without some significant evolutionary trade-offs.
After conducting a meta-analysis of a number of other studies on the potential for humanity increasing their brainpower, they’ve come to one significant conclusion. In order for people’s brains to evolve much beyond where they’re at now they would need to make some fairly serious genetic sacrifices. Many individuals with advanced cognitive abilities, “savants, people with photographic memories, and even genetically segregated populations of individuals with above average IQ”, they are also unusually susceptible to neural disorders like autism and synesthesia.
