Comparing the Intelligence and Capabilities of Homo erectus and Modern Humans
Brain is hugely overrated. This mechanistic animalistic primitive stone-age nonsense is passed along by experts who do not even know what mind is and where it is located and how it works. A chihuahua can be smarter than a great dane. Crows are extremely intelligent loyal and even emotionally mature birds with tiny brains. Jellyfish is by far the oldest creature on Earth with a surprisingly complex nervous system.
Homo erectus: The Most Successful of All Ancient Humans
Homo erectus is the most successful of all ancient humans and even modern humans because he lived from about 2 million years to 120,000 years. For a species to live that long means he was far from stupid. He is the ancestor of modern humans and bear in mind humans only started farming about 12,000 years ago and civilizations only began to flourish about 6,000 years ago so for the majority of their time on Earth, humans lived like their ancestor Homo erectus.
Humans began evolving from the Homo erectus in various areas of the world. They interbred with their close cousins the Neanderthal and the Denisovan and later migrating human groups. We are a mix of all our ancient ancestors and yes interbreeding with other human species would have had an affect on the human brain. It wasn't all evolution.
Brain Size and Behavioral Range
Since we don’t actually have any preserved specimens of H. erectus brains we cannot really directly compare them with those of modern humans other than to note that on average they were smaller, anywhere from 25-50% smaller give or take. This size difference alone does not necessarily indicate intelligence levels, as many other factors such as neural efficiency and complexity also play a crucial role.
From the artifacts H. erectus left behind we can also note that their behavioral range appears to be more limited than those of modern humans. Their capacity for symbolic thought seems to be less and their facility for innovation also seems to be inferior. In the entire existence of H. erectus, spanning over 1.5 million years, they changed their toolkit in a significant way perhaps just once or twice at most and stayed at basically the same technological level for almost 1 million years. That degree of technological and cultural stasis is unheard of in modern humans. Modern humans will innovate for the sake of innovation itself often within a single generation even if there is no actual pressing need to do so.
The Psychology of Innovation
It appears that H. erectus did not have the psychology to innovate for the sake of innovation itself. Sometimes they seem to do it just for the sake of change itself. H. erectus it appears did not have that psychology which may contribute to their limited sphere of innovation.
While brain size and complexity are certainly important, they are not the only factors in determining intelligence and capabilities. The capacity for symbolic thought, cultural innovation, and psychological drives all play a crucial role in how a species functions and adapts to its environment.
Therefore, it is not accurate to say that modern humans are more intelligent than H. erectus just because of our larger brains. Intelligence is a multifaceted trait, and the differences in behavior and innovation seen between these species are better explained by a combination of biological, cultural, and psychological factors.
Keywords: Homo erectus, modern human, brain evolution