X-Message-Number: 12376
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: more on more intelligence
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 10:03:33 +1000 (EST)

Hi everyone!

I did not report it in PERIASTRON for two reasons: 1) it would not help
us as individuals 2) yes, I favor greater intelligence, but PERIASTRON
isn't mainly about intelligence but about means to increase our longevity.

However there was a previous experiment which did something quite
similar, at least in its results. Basically the experimenters deleted much
(but not all) of the system by which in infancy mice lose many of their 
neurons. This created mice with many more neurons than normal; they turned 
out to be smarter than ordinary mice. It is by now a commonplace that
we, too, lose many of our neurons when we are infants.

As for such work being "kick ass", I don't really understand why it 
can be described that way. Yes, both of these papers DO suggest
substantive ways to make us more intelligent. First, we can remove the
controls on production of new neurons in adults. Second, as the experiment
of Dr. Tsien (reported by John Clark) suggests, we might also remove
controls on production of one variety of NMDA receptor. To be REALLY
useful, of course, we want means to do this in adults.

			Best and long long life,

				Thomas Donaldson


PS: references given on request

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