{"id":26760,"date":"2020-05-02T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=26760"},"modified":"2020-04-23T22:47:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T02:47:36","slug":"we-are-all-pinheads-compared-to-the-ancient-greeks-and-romans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/02\/we-are-all-pinheads-compared-to-the-ancient-greeks-and-romans\/","title":{"rendered":"We are all pinheads compared to the Ancient Greeks and Romans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of my activities during the coronaplague has been listening to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegreatcourses.com\/courses\/major-transitions-in-evolution.html\">Major Transitions in Evolution<\/a><\/em>, a 24-lecture course that probably is best enjoyed in the video format because there are a lot of fossils presented. (And let me remind readers that the theory of evolution is only a theory!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you an elderly curmudgeon who believes that every successive generation has been getting dumber? Do you think that the 19th century British were right to emphasize the study of Greek and Roman authors? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Science backs you up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the last 10,000 years, human brains have been getting smaller! <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_D._Hawks\">Professor John Hawks<\/a> says that our brains have shrunk nearly 10 percent in relatively recent times and quite a bit of the shrinkage has occurred since <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Virgil\">Virgil<\/a> was having a slave scribble out the <em>Aeneid<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Upset about all of the head injuries that occur as part of our sports culture? Our skull bones have been getting thinner as well.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discovermagazine.com\/planet-earth\/the-human-brain-has-been-getting-smaller-since-the-stone-age\">&#8220;The Human Brain Has been Getting Smaller Since the Stone Age&#8221; <\/a>(<em>Discover<\/em>)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discovermagazine.com\/the-sciences\/if-modern-humans-are-so-smart-why-are-our-brains-shrinking\">&#8220;If Modern Humans Are So Smart, Why Are Our Brains Shrinking?&#8221;<\/a> (Discovery), which contains an interview with John Hawks.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my activities during the coronaplague has been listening to Major Transitions in Evolution, a 24-lecture course that probably is best enjoyed in the video format because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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