"The richest 1 percent of people on Earth made almost two-thirds of the new wealth created since the pandemic began, Oxfam said in a report released Monday, the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps." (WaPo, a while ago)
Humans have the largest ratio of brain mass-to-body mass of any mammals, but of all species ants have the largest ratio at about 15% (NdT)
(Ants are insects, not mammals.)
Anyway why is it the ratio that matters? If the brain is basically a computer, why isn't its size (proportional to the number of neurons and synapses?) the relevant metric, and not its relative size to body mass?
The Japanese Meteorological Association has measured 2022 to be the 6th-warmest year since 1890.
I also heard on YouTube Shorts that all mammals take 21 seconds to empty their bladder, regardless of their mass and size. (Can't find the link, sorry.) My own investigations have varied somewhat, but I'm no longer at the optimum human age.
4 comments:
"Humans have the largest ratio of brain mass-to-body mass of any mammals, but of all species ants have the largest ratio at about 15% (NdT)
(Ants are insects, not mammals.)
Anyway why is it the ratio that matters? If the brain is basically a computer, why isn't its size (proportional to the number of neurons and synapses?) the relevant metric, and not its relative size to body mass? "
If you double the length of an organism, perhaps a whale it length increases by two times, its surface area increases four times and it's volume increases right times.The number of nerve cells needed to monitor and control it's interior goes up in proportion to its volume, and so does brain volume.
So a whale 10 metres long will have a brain with eight times the mass and volume of an equivalent 5 metre whale, just to run equivalent sensory, motor and homeostasis functions.
Intelligence occupies only a small proportion of brain activity. If you want more intelligence you have to add extra brain mass on top of existing function. Thus if evolution is selecting for higher intelligence it has to select for increased brain volume or mass in proportion to body volume of mass.
Hence humans have a larger brain mass to body mass ratio than other animals of the same size.
Why do ants have an even larger ratio? Ants must operate as individuals, with the sensory, motor and monitoring required. On top of that, they are intensely social, coordinating everything from food collection through defence, brood care and agriculture to air conditioning. The communication required to achieve that complex collective behaviour must take a lot of extra processing power and a large brain mass to body mass ratio.
Just for context on the 1%:
According to the 2018 Global Wealth Report from Credit Suisse Research Institute, you need a net worth of $871,320 U.S. to be part of the 1%.
Although the average net worth for all Americans is roughly $692,100 in 2023, the median net worth is a more pedestrian $97,300.
The median net worth for Americans in their late 60s and early 70s is $266,400.
So who are these 1%ers?
People with the top 1% of net worth in the U.S. in 2022 had $10,815,000 in net worth. The top 2% had a net worth of $2,472,000. The top 5% had $1,030,000. The top 10% had $854,900.
So maybe a little less than 10% of the US are part of the 1% worldwide.
If trickledown economics works, then we may all pray that the rich will trickle upon us.
Have you encountered other quirks of size?
High latitude mammals tend to be larger than their temperate or tropical equivalents. The main constraint in cold climates is the need to maintain body temperature. Larger animals have a lower surface to volume ratio. Less mass to generate heat and less surface area to lie it through.Secondly
You see it with people too, The Inuit spent tens of thousands of years adapting to Arctic conditions and tend to be very stocky.
In tropical Africa the Masai tend to be tall and lean, adapted for maximum heat loss.
On islands with their limited area and food supply evolution produces smaller animals. The same food supply which supports one animal weighing four kilograms will support four animals weighing one kilogram.
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