I was rambling in my head on awareness and decided to check some things out.
I was watching some bird mating rituals and got to wondering why they would care when pheromones and hormones would get the job done without the rituals.
Humans have about 86B neurons with 19-23B concentrated in the cerebral cortex. (19B for women and 23B for men.) An African elephant has 11B in the cerebral cortex with a roundworm having 302 total. The roundworm has 7500 synapses, whereas a human has 1E15. As a side note, it turns out that Autism seems to be based on excessive synapses.
If we assume that our awareness is based in neural synaptic processes, we would have to assume the roundworm has some awareness. With birds having more, that would suggest that they are aware of and do appreciate the ritual.
Interesting article on bird brains.
I was watching some bird mating rituals and got to wondering why they would care when pheromones and hormones would get the job done without the rituals.
Humans have about 86B neurons with 19-23B concentrated in the cerebral cortex. (19B for women and 23B for men.) An African elephant has 11B in the cerebral cortex with a roundworm having 302 total. The roundworm has 7500 synapses, whereas a human has 1E15. As a side note, it turns out that Autism seems to be based on excessive synapses.
If we assume that our awareness is based in neural synaptic processes, we would have to assume the roundworm has some awareness. With birds having more, that would suggest that they are aware of and do appreciate the ritual.
Interesting article on bird brains.
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
-- Homer Simpson
God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers
Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders
Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
