Were Cavemen Actually Smarter Than Us?

Your brain is about 10% smaller than the brain of a Stone Age hunter. So were ancient humans actually smarter than you? In this video we look at a starving explorer in the Australian desert, a Soviet fox farm, hunters who read tracks like scientists, stories that survived 7,000 years without writing, and the strange reason IQ scores rose for a century and are now starting to fall. The answer is not what you think. Chapters: 0:00 Starving on a full stomach 0:49 Your brain is shrinking 2:02 The Siberian fox experiment 3:57 What ancient humans actually knew 6:08 The polar bear puzzle and the Flynn effect 8:38 The collective brain 11:14 The twist: IQ is falling 12:00 So who's smarter? Sources and further reading: Trut, L. The Belyaev fox domestication experiment Hare, B. & Wrangham, R. Self-domestication hypothesis Liebenberg, L. The Art of Tracking: The Origin of Science Nunn, P. & Reid, N. (2016) Aboriginal memories of inundation of the Australian coast Luria, A. Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Social Foundations Flynn, J. What Is Intelligence? Henrich, J. The Secret of Our Success Sparrow, B., Liu, J. & Wegner, D. (2011) Google Effects on Memory, Science Bratsberg, B. & Rogeberg, O. (2018) Flynn effect and its reversal, PNAS Subscribe to Campfire Questions for more stories about how humans really lived. #AncientHumans #HumanEvolution #Psychology