Monday, April 03, 2006

Foxy Lady?

Terence Kealey of The Times of London speculates on why women have, on the average, smaller brains than men.

Kealey writes about a 35-generation fox taming experiment, and duly notes that the domesticated animals have smaller brains.

He then asks: "[W]ould it be dangerous to suppose that women’s brains are smaller than men’s because, over the millennia, we men have been selecting friendly women with whom to breed?"

I think it would be VERY dangerous....

5 comments:

Rick Ballard said...

As long as we obey - what difference does it make?

chuck said...

Don't know about foxes, but outdoor cats are definitely smarter and more alert than the indoor variety. I wonder if enviroment has anything to do with brain development?

Syl said...

but outdoor cats are definitely smarter and more alert than the indoor variety.

I disagree.

The outdoor cats are too preoccupied with averting danger and finding food to learn to read.

blert said...

The female ideal of beauty in a mate requires an enhanced torso with a proportionate skull.

The male ideal of beauty in a mate requires symmetry and vitality.

Mental evolution is pressed forward until the mind is able to out think prey.

For the woman, this has long been accomplished, dating from her invention of the very first word: “NO.” That this is so is plain from negations in all modern languages.

Ever since, man has been burdened by the Sisyphean task of getting to “Yes.”

One must conjecture that “NO” was invented by the first woman who correctly figured out where all of those babies were coming from.

And so it was that morality was born; and what a morale breaker it was.

Rick Ballard said...

Blert,

Excellent analysis but I think it was 'maybe' that finished us off.