[mc808]

To me it seems our ability to preserve and share knowledge is far more important for our intellectual pursuits than the individual brain is. E.g. it took hundreds of thousands of years for someone to think up the number 0, and then it spread like wildfire (after the authorities stopped resisting).

What I find curious is that parrots can vocalize at least as well as humans, they show some pretty solid reasoning ability, their tongue is practically an opposable thumb, and yet they don't seem to have developed complex spoken language or technology.

I wonder what's missing from bird brains that would help them with language. Actually, I just had a flash of memory about some part of the brain involved with putting ideas into linear sequences, as we do with words. Maybe that plays a part.