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Anonymous
I saw a documentary on sperm whales today.

It seems that they're able to see with their ears.

I saw their brain, more than twice the size of ours.

Maybe the next step of evolution for human kind is a bigger brain that would allow us to communicate like dolphins or sperm whales.

What do you think ?
>> Anonymous
humanity's next step in communication is going to be voiceless communication. something along the lines of telepathy combined with transmitted diagrams or something crazy like that.

anyway, its not the size of the brain that matters, its the number of working neurons.
>> Anonymous
it may be twice the size of our brain but it doesnt matter when it weighs a couple dozen
>> Anonymous
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I definitely think that telepathy is the next step in human's communication.

But is it possible for us to develop this form of communication without modifying our brain and simply by increasing the number of neural connexions ?

As far as I know, we normally use between 10 and 15% of our brain capacity.

Is it possible to increase that number without damaging our brain ?
>> Anonymous
Bats can see with their ears. It's just advanced hearing it has nothing to do with intelligence. Since humans don't fly at high speeds in the dark or hunt dangerous giant squid in the black abyss I don't see us evolving better hearing.

Also the size of the brain in comparison to body size is what's important. Dolphins are smarter than sperm whales. Dolphins have a brain to body mass ratio that matches Homo habilis.

Also bears have the same sized brain as humans, but obviously a much larger body.
>> Anonymous
Synesthesia. They process sounds as images.
Some people do that. They hear a song and draw. Another person with the same well, mutation, look at the picture and plays the song.
We are trained to see things this or that way.
Some birds will see the electromagnectic of the earth and use them as their migration route. But their parents have to teach this. Imprint this on the young ones, if you will.
>> Anonymous
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I agree with the fact that nature "designed" us to be what we are, so we will probably never fly like bats or swim like dolphins.

But I'm still questionning myself about our next step in evolution, cause I really think we will evolve into another kind of human beings.

According to Darwin, our ancesters are monkeys, chimpanzes and others. As the size of our brain increased in time, we made tools, discovered how to make and use fire, etc etc..

So I'm wondering why the human being that we are today has to be the perfect human ever ?

Are we going to move forward in evolution, move backward, both ?

Will we forever stay like we are today ?
>> Anonymous
>>302522

Brain isn't a transmitter and as a receiver it's even worse. More neurons won't fix that. You'll need something else.
>> Anonymous
>>302522
>As far as I know, we normally use between 10 and 15% of our brain capacity.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE
>> Anonymous
>>302539

Because humans have become so lazy we will evolve into motionless blobs.
>> Anonymous
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>>302565

If telepathy is the next step in human communication we will surely need more than our brain to make it possible. Some kind of bone that would grow just above the nose, with new muscles and new nerves in order to send messages and receive them as well.

Anyway, I cannot imagine a new kind of human without brain modifications. As I already said, the size of our ancesters' brain increased until we became what we are today. Why would nature stop what she started thousand years ago, except for returning at what we were before having this nice brain that makes us so proud of ourselves ?
>> Anonymous
The people in this thread have no grasp on the concept of evolution.
>> Anonymous
>>302611
Well, believe it or not, I wrote a long post on the subject, but somehow, it didn't get posted.
I was was like, what write it again? Nah, who cares about idiots. Let them believe whatever they want to believe.
>> Anonymous
>>302593Okay. How about better than a new bone - A BLUE TOOTH! we could all have a blue extra tooth for sending/recieving communications?
>> Anonymous
>>302584
LOLZ LYKE IN WALLE?
>> Anonymous
>As far as I know, we normally use between 10 and 15% of our brain capacity.

Actually, that's just a myth.
fucktard.
>> Anonymous
>>302636
Whenever I see someone talking to themselves I think they're a lunatic. Bluetooths certainly haven't helped my view of the world. I see people every day willingly making themselves look like a crazy person just because it's some sort of high tech status symbol even if you are a fat lazy slob jesus christ wash that shirt you fat bastard it has food and armpit sweat stains on it from last month.

Stop talking to yourself.
>> Anonymous
Considering the time it takes for a race to evolve something as advanced as telepathy, I think the next phases of evolution are going to be human-directed. Artificial(improved) limbs and organs, direct interfaces to computers and such.
>> Anonymous
>>302630

yeah sure you did.
>> Anonymous
The next logical step in human evolution is moving from biological evolution and cultural evolution to technorganic evolution. That is to say, humans are going to start rebuilding themselves using traditional and biological technology. Telepathy may be created somewhere along the way, as soon as we come up with technologies to decode human thought from neuron activity and build transmitter-receiver systems into our heads. Extra senses such as echolocation or radiowave sense would be even easier to achieve.

And before you start arguing that people don't want to become cyborgs: everyone who has ever ridden a bicycle has been a cybernetic organism according to the loose definition. Anyone with a hearing aid or a pacemaker is a cyborg, as is anyone with artificial joints.
>> tigerfeather !CrwtTbFNxQ
>>302696
Here in California, it's now illegal to talk on your phone in the car unless using some sort of headset, so I see them everywhere, all the time now. I swear I keep thinking that people are talking to me when in fact they're talking ON THE PHONE.
>> tigerfeather !CrwtTbFNxQ
>>302834
Oh, and I'd totally love to be a cyborg.
>> Anonymous
>>302513
ITT: Retards!
>> Anonymous
>>302704
>Considering the time it takes for a race to evolve something as advanced as telepathy

Please tell us how long it takes for a race to develop telepathy, I seem to have forgotten!
>> Moo !XBOXgikTFw
We won't evolve because there's no need for it. A benefical random mutation has no chance to come out ahead nowadays.

>>302522
10 to 15% at a time. Not total.
>> Anonymous
>>302876
non-beneficial ones will though, who said evolution has to make you better?...

We'll get fatter, more selfish and totally apathetic towards others and right wing in our political views
>> Anonymous
>>302876
There's always a chance of a beneficial random mutation, unless you somehow remove all mutation. Besides, a lot of evolution is due to genetic drift, not selection.

As for telepathy: NEWSFLASH! Telepathy is not a real phenomenon. You can't evolve pseudoscientific senses.
>> Anonymous
Additional sensory input to the brain is definitely possible (by technic means). It is possible to embed electrodes in the brain, that one can adapt to use. AFAIK this has been used already, however only few electrodes were embedded, which could then be used to, e.g. turn the lights on and off. The subject has to adapt to use these connections, but after adaptation it becomes natural, like moving your hand. You don't have to concentrate on doing that, you just do. Prostetic arms can be hooked up to the original nerves for control. This does not use additional "senses", but it requires similar adaptation.
There is another project for blind people, where a camera is hooked up to a matrix of actuators that the subject places on his tongue. The resolution is quite limited, but after some training it is possible to distinguish shapes, etc. When technology advances, we might be able to make a direct interface to the brain to all kinds of sensory input.

Regarding the sonar sensing of whales and bats, there is a blind man who makes clicking noises and can sense obstacles from the echo.
>> Anonymous
>>302882
It's not telepathy though is it, nor is it telepathy if 2 people used radio transmission to communicate, and even if it does go from brain to brain it's still radio communication!
>> Anonymous
>>302882
>Regarding the sonar sensing of whales and bats, there is a blind man who makes clicking noises and can sense obstacles from the echo.

That shit is fake, the frequencies required to do that effectively cannot be heard by human ears.
>> Anonymous
>>302910
You don't need a specific frequency of sound for echolocation, you retard.
>> Anonymous
>>302513
This only works because they live underwater. Unless you're saying we're going to become merpeople with giant goddamn brains.

>>302522
>>As far as I know, we normally use between 10 and 15% of our brain capacity.

I WISH PEOPLE WOULDN'T KEEP SAYING THIS SHIT BECAUSE IT'S UNTRUE. GODDAMMIT.
>> Anonymous
Get your /x/ out of my /an/ you fucking saucer chasers.
>> Anonymous
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Okay, I'm gonna lay some science down here.

Only 10% of the human brain is used for thinking, this is not to say 90% is unused, the rest if used for stuff like breathing, walking and most of all seeing. Seeing takes up fully a third of all your brain power. It is this extra power that allows us to hold huge social circles (relative to other animals) recognize individuals, read emotions etc.

Telepathic communication is real but it is very very different from what you think. When neurons or muscles activate ions move across cell membranes causing electromagnetic fields. Animals like sharks can pick up these fields and read them. Other animals like electric eels can make fields so powerful they can kill other animals. Many river fish use a method of producing and reading electromagnetic fields as a form of communication. This is as close as nature gets or likely will get to telepathy. Love it or leave it.
>> Anonymous
>>302948
Well put, I couldn't have said it better.

It's worth noting that sensing the electromagnetic fields from people would require extraordinary sensitivity over any distance and through air. I suspect that this amount of sensitivity would be impossible on Earth (as the EM fields of a person would be almost insignificant compared to the planet's field, as well as the massive amount of electronics we surround ourselves with). If you were sensitive enough to feel someone else's brain activity, I'm not convinced that you could easily interpret it to create images or words. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would be more like a glittering beacon of EM. You could tell if there was more or less activity and in what regions of the brain, but that's as much complexity as I would expect.

In any case, there's no biological pressure to develop telepathy. In a sense, humans have the most advanced telepathy ever devised. Language allows us to speak in depth about everything, concrete or abstract. That's good enough for me. I just want a prehensile tail or an extra set of arms.
>> Anonymous
>>302953
You got the right idea. When fish use "telepathy" they speak using something like morse code. Other fish can only hear yes or no to the presence of a EM field so fish just turn their field on and off to communicate. This allows them to find each other in murky water.