INFINITY #4: The Man Without A Brain
by
Daniel H. Harris Ph.D.
I.
The Questions.
Is your brain really necessary? Does
your brain size elevate you above the apes?
Did man ascend from animal ancestors?
Is there more to mind than brain? This
INFINITY will answer these important questions.
II.
The Two Contrary Possibilities.
Either man is the result of natural law processes, that is, man arose
from animal ancestors; or man is not the result of natural law processes, man is
a supernatural creation. Logically
only one of these two contrary possibilities can be true.
A. Evolution, Brain Size, and
the Ascent of Man.
A core belief of evolution is the conjecture that man ascended from
apelike animal ancestors, and that what distinguishes man from ape is the larger
brain of man. This is called the
ascent of man. And an
indispensable part of the evolutionary model of origins is the idea that man is
more intelligent, because of his larger brain size. And this idea, is inseparable from
the evolutionary belief that mind is nothing more than brain, that mind is
brain and brain is mind. On the
other hand;
B. The Bible Describes Man as a
Supernatural Creation.
The Holy Bible tell us in Genesis, 1:27, and in Genesis 2:7, that: "God created man in His own
image... and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a
living soul." The Bible tells
us that man became man when God made him, and the Bible tells us that man's
intelligence is a gift from God.
C. Either Man is Evolved or Man
is Created.
1) Either man arose from animal ancestors, and man is only a advanced
animal, with an unusually complex animal brain, and that complex brain is the
only cause for his increased intelligence. Or,
2) Man did not arise form animal ancestors, rather man is a supernatural
work of God, and human intelligence is an everyday miracle, a gift from God.
These are two opposite views of man.
They can't be merged or reconciled, and there can be no agreement between
them. To help you decide between
these two contrary views, let's look at some real world observations of brain
size.
III.
The Early Brain Size Research Supports Evolution.
A. Brain Size Research Begins.
Serious research on the possible relation between brain size and
intelligence began only in the early 1800's and continued though the end of the
19th century. At that time, when
the ascent of man idea became more acceptable among academics, a few researchers
began to make substantial collections of skulls and brain weight measures.
Since the ascent of man idea is a core concept of evolution, and
evolution is central to an naturalistic view of man's origin, the evolutionists
immediately assumed, without question, that intelligence is related to brain
size and skull volume; even though there was then, and there is now, no solid
evidence connecting intelligence with brain size or skull volume.
B. Early Results of Brain Size
Research.
The early brain weight measures were immediately used to argue that men
are more intelligent than women, because the average man has a brain weighing
about 3 pounds [49 oz., 1.39 kg], and the average woman has a brain weighing
only about 2 and 3/4 pounds [44oz., 1.25 kg].
Of course, all these studies were done by men.
And since racism was then widespread, and appeared to align with
evolutionary thinking, zealous evolutionists went to great effort to obtain
large numbers of skull volume measures, expecting to find differences among the
skull volumes of the races, and expecting the white races to be found superior.
C. Brain Weight Studies,
Prejudice and Racism.
The racist nature of these evolutionist's thinking is clear from the full
title of Charles Darwin's 1859 book. The
title was, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the
Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life." Darwin was not just referring to animal
races, but human races; as seen from his later book the "Descent of
Man," published in 1871.
Evolutionists then held that the various races were different
sub-species, and would be expected to have different skull volumes. And indeed when they looked they found
what the wanted to find. Their
grossly biased studies concluded that the white race is indeed superior to all
others in skull volume, and therefore, presumably of greater intelligence.
D. Despotism and Oppression
Arise from Brain Weight Research.
In the mid and late 1800's skull volume measures were used, to argue for
selective breeding of humans, the sterilization of some, and to argue for the
expansion of colonial rule over inferior races.
Blacks and bushmen were said to be comparable to apes, and oppression of
the American Indians was justified on similar grounds.
This early bad science, prejudiced by racist investigators, years later
provided Hitler with arguments to promote his idea of the master race. This resulting lie cost millions of
lives. The zealots for evolutionary
thinking, who promoted these ideas were all white male intellectuals.
The early brain volume studies were used consistently to support
prejudice and discrimination of the worst type.
Any idea so terribly used, must certainly be false, and so it turns
out to be.
IV.
The Early Brain Size Research Overturned!
Recently, noted anthropologist, Stephen Jay Gould, of Harvard, [an
atheist and ardent evolutionist] did a careful reexamination of the early brain
size measures. (see "The Mismeasure of Man," W.W. Norton and Co. N.Y.
1981) Dr. Gould's work shows that
the original studies reached mistaken conclusions, because the original
investigators biased their data. The
early researchers excluded from the racial averages, several large skulls of
dark skinned races. When these
large skulls were included, then the skull volume evidence showed no
measurable racial differences.
In their zeal to support evolution, because it agreed with their
prejudices, the early brain volume investigators, gave us some very bad science. And this very bad science had some very
bad consequences.
But we still have no answer to our original questions. Again the questions are; is your brain
really necessary, is it brain size which elevates us above the apes; did man
arise from animal ancestors; is intelligence just a result of brain complexity;
or is mind more than just brain?
V.
Brian Weight Measures and Intelligence: the Evidence.
We will see in what follows that an unbiased examination shows that brain
weight and brain size are not indicators of intelligence.
A. The Brain Weights of Notable
Geniuses.
To see this, we will first examine the brain weight measures of some
notable geniuses, who had their bodies examined after death. The largest notable brain was that of
the English poet, Lord Byron, his brain weighed a little over five pounds. (Remember the average for men is about
three pounds.) Above average was
the brain of the French paleontologist Georges Cuvier, which weighed about 4
pounds. These results are not
surprising.
B. Some Low Brain Weight
Geniuses.
What is surprising, is the number of geniuses with near average to below
average brain weights. For example,
the great mathematical genius Karl Friedrich Gauss, had a brain weight of only
3.3 pounds. And Albert Einstein had
an average sized brain. Below
average was the American poet Walt Whitman with a brain of only 2.8 pounds. And far below average was the
literary genius, Anatole France, who had a brain weight of only 2.24 pounds.
Clearly, brilliant individuals vary greatly in brain size. Among these geniuses, brain weights
differ by more than a factor of two. This
strongly suggests that a large brain size is not necessary for high
intelligence.
VI.
Studies of Hydrocephalus Patients.
Further evidence that brain size is not related to intelligence comes
from a report in the prestigious magazine Science, in December, 1980, and
more recently from a PBS documentary. These
describe the work of Dr. John Lorber, of Sheffield University, England, and
others who have used brain scan technologies to study hydrocephalus patients.
A. Hydrocephalus Squeezes the
Brain.
Hydrocephalus is commonly called water on the brain. The disease occurs when the fluid filled
spaces in the middle of the brain expand due to increased pressure, pressing the
brain against the skull. Of the
more than 600 individuals examined by Dr. Lorber, about one in ten had more than
90% of the skull volume filled with fluid, and of these more than half of these
have IQs over 100.
B. The Man Without a Brain!
One young man examined by Dr. Lorber, who was then a student at Sheffield
University, had a measured IQ of 126, a first class honors degree in
mathematics; and virtually no brain. This
student's brain cortex is a layer about 1/25th of an inch (1 mm) thick, lining
his skull. His brain weight is
estimated to be about 2/10 of one pound (about 0.090 kg). That is only about 7% of normal brain
weight. This student is one
of many normal persons with almost no brain.
Clearly these observational facts show that intelligence and brain
size are not related. Normal
brain size is not necessary to be of perfectly normal intelligence. What makes man unique is not the size of
his brain.
VII.
The Expectation of Evolution is Just Plain Wrong!
But the belief that brain size and weight must be related to intelligence
is essential to the evolutionists supposition that man arose from apelike ancestors, this belief is the core of
evolutionary thinking, it is the tree on which the paleontologists hang the
transition from ape to man. This
expectation-prediction of evolution, is totally contrary to the observations,
it's just pain wrong. Man does not
have just an unusually large and complex animal brain, A large brain is not what makes man
unique, nor is it what makes man human.
VIII.
The Human Mind is a True Miracle.
Therefore, we are led to the inescapable conclusion that man did not
arise by the naturalistic process of evolution from animal ancestors. The human mind can only be understood as
being the result of a supernatural agency.
Your mind is a gift from God. The
human mind is a true miracle, not just a complex computer or an advanced animal
brain. There is much more to mind
than just brain.
IX.
Man: Made in the Image of God.
The Holy Bible makes clear that man is special because man is made in the
image of God (see Gen 1:27). Man is
made intelligent and man is given the faculty of speech, not by random
evolutionary developments. Man is
what he is for the purpose of pleasing the God who made him, the God who made
the entire universe [to see that God made the universe please click on INFINITY #2: Purpose and Order in
the Universe.]
X.
The God Who Gave You Intelligence Wants Your Fellowship.
As part of your God given nature you were made with a built in desire to worship. Everyone worships - depends on - trusts in something. Now that you understand that your human nature and your gift of intelligence are gifts from God, why not turn your worship toward the one true God.