Re: Are birds really smarter than non-avian dinosaurs?

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> The most highly evolved of the dinosaurs

Which ones would those be? Darwin once wrote "Say never higher or lower". It 
took about 100 years till most biologists understood he was right, but he 
was right, because these terms cannot be defined. All attempts have led to 
inconsistencies.

> Part of birds' advantage was lack of specialization.

Then why didn't the troodontids survive?

> Humans are teh only species that have ever become highly evolved

See above.

> and avoided over-specialization, and Neanderthals did not manage it.

Whether they were a separate species depends on the species concept, but the 
reason they died out seems to have been the Last Glacial Maximum, which 
_also_ wiped out the *H. sapiens sapiens* population of Europe. We are the 
descendants of later immigrants from the Middle East.

> They were overspecialized and unable to think in new ways.

This is not science. This is a just-so story. If it were wrong, how would we 
know?

> Another was small size, which was probably inversely related to 
> intelligence.
> It takes a certain amount of body size to support a big brain.

And why do you think brain size and intelligence -- however measured -- are 
correlated? Sure, it makes intuitive sense, but we're in science here, not 
in philosophy: it isn't enough that it makes sense, it has to actually be 
the case. Gray parrots (brain size: shelled walnut) are at least as smart as 
sperm whales (largest brains ever).

> If dinosaurs had not suffered the great extinction tat that point, they
> would probably have given rise to a feathered version of us.

Why do you think so?