Are Humans Able to Become Smarter?

Currently, it’s hard to tell how to make us smarter - but Neil deGrasse Tyson knows what can definitely make us dumber. He also has some ideas on how we might be able to expand on the powers of the human brain. With co-host Chuck Nice.

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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!

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[YoungEducationUSA]

Of course, we've become a multi star system species in the future. Sounds like we have evolved to be a much smarter species regardless of what's going on right now.

[KeymoEmbryo]

The simplest answer to this question is, yes. Now a more elaborate response would be, yes.

[ThirtySixOz]

Bro wait, I came here and these two guys are still together?

[Skoenner]

I don't know if I can become smarter but I can certainly become higher!

[jdderew]

If having a computer in your phone is good enough then how do you solve the output of information problem?
The fact that it took me 2 seconds to think this question and 5 minutes to type it...

[continuum_]

Not sure if this is the one I remember, but this shows how the brain is "distributed"

[DraconisWyrm]

caffeine has studies about helping performance and efficiency! and thoughts might be stored in entangled particles as much as neurons, i want to know more!

[taylorwestmore]

Nootropic drugs, proper diet and meditation, as well as a healthy curiosity.
Meditation in particular causes states of inter-hemispheric coherence in the brain. This causes whole brain activity to synchronize and changes the density of brain regions and the connections between them. (increasing the density of 'good' areas of the autonomic and voluntary nervous systems and decreasing brain density in stress response regions, while also allowing very long distance regions of the brain to communicate more effectively.)

[zetsumeinaito]

If it's everything, there is one route that could be taken. Compaction. Bird brains are quite a bit more compact, cell wise than mammal brains.

[ashIibabbitt]

I think that it is worth noting that some of the most brilliant minds throughout history have been consumers of drugs and alcohol, with some of their work being fueled by such substances.

[YoungEducationUSA]

Becoming an android species is a very positive thing, trust me. ;)

[thorin]

Y'all better leave Niels neck alone

[calebgoodfellowcg]

Why do you have to put in my brain, just leave it out here - amen

[quenz.goosington]

But input to an external device is extremely slow. I mean, we can use EEG, but that might only get us so far.

[Drz]

With a USB I'm in your neck, wouldn't you be more susceptible to getting hacked? Except in a much more serious scale.

[nicolasquintarriboli]

Neil, I heard you one says "The white holes are the mathematical oposite of black holes but they don't exist". Could it be that the Dark Matter is related with a black hole? Could it be Its mathematical oposite? I asume that you would say NO, but could you extend your explanation?

[douglima]

nerd question: are there any superheroes with "possible" superpowers?

[vrd]

Um, I think VR, like Google earth VR, might be the begging of the 4th dimension. There is know way to really explain it until you go in.

[kingyuckfou]

Question. if a humans brain works like a CPU. then like any other processing system it needs operators. or software to run the CPU. Wouldn't the human brain need a operator as its software aka the human soul. the human brain processes all of our sensory information and then the Soul, aka the software decides what to do with that information.

[MikeWanDoe]

Unfortunately the Donald Trump ad leading into this video answered the question before I even got here.