# How small could humans be and develop a similar civilization? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-could-humans-be-and-develop-a-similar-civilization/997490 **Category:** Factual Questions **Created:** [February 12, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-could-humans-be-and-develop-a-similar-civilization/997490 "2024-02-12T20:43:10Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 51
### Author: ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid) #### Post date: [February 14, 2024, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-could-humans-be-and-develop-a-similar-civilization/997490/51 "2024-02-14T02:31:58Z")
Not sure if this is the one but this was a cogent point made by @engineer_comp_geek in a different thread. > [@Size of Aliens and Space Travel](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-of-aliens-and-space-travel/989542/3): > > If you assume that the aliens in question have a somewhat similar biology to us, then the lower limit comes from the brain. Intelligence is basically limited by the number of neurons, and (again, assuming an Earth-like biology, which may or may not be a valid assumption) you can only make neurons so small. Birds, needing to minimize weight in order to fly, have a much higher neuron density than humans. The obvious conclusion from this is that humans are nowhere near the lower size limit. But yo… And this thread! > [@Brain size needed for human-type cognition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-size-needed-for-human-type-cognition/686260): > > I’m currently rereading Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and in The Amber Spyglass, there’s a species of humanoid beings that are about six or eight inches tall – small enough to ride a hawk, in any case. Since one of my cats was lying on my chest (with his head less than a foot from mine) as I was reading last night, I got to thinking about brain size. Could a creature that small have a brain large enough to handle human speech, do tactical thinking, etc.? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-could-humans-be-and-develop-a-similar-civilization/997490)._