# If you took a cave man baby and raised it in 2010 would it have a normal IQ and do OK in School? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702 "2010-07-23T12:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/101 "2010-07-24T12:45:48Z")
Hi Curt! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/102 "2010-07-24T12:56:55Z")
According to the work of [Julian Jaynes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Jaynes), pretty much everybody prior to the time of Christ (He draws the line at roughly 2-3000 years ago, though not for religious reasons) hallucinated out of the right side of their brains. I’m guessing your hypothetical caveman baby would be subject to these and other, worse, indignities. The OP is the basis of “Charley the Australopithecine,” a recurring character in \*\*Tom the Dancing Bug. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/103 "2010-07-24T12:59:29Z")
Well, Sherlock Holmes didn’t know that the earth orbits the sun. Hedidnt want that kind of information cluttering up his brain. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/104 "2010-07-24T16:56:38Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Is it permissable to make a raspberry noise at another poster? Only in Cafe Society. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/105 "2010-07-24T17:14:14Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I am often curt. Even when you’re being frank and earnest, too! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/106 "2010-07-25T00:19:33Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > According to the work of [Julian Jaynes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Jaynes), pretty much everybody prior to the time of Christ (He draws the line at roughly 2-3000 years ago, though not for religious reasons) hallucinated out of the right side of their brains. I’m guessing your hypothetical caveman baby would be subject to these and other, worse, indignities. > > The OP is the basis of “Charley the Australopithecine,” a recurring character in \*\*Tom the Dancing Bug. \*\* Doesn’t Jaynes describe this as a cultural phenemona, rather than a genetic/biological one? Quoting one section of a second [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_Consciousness_in_the_Breakdown_of_the_Bicameral_Mind), it mentions “[The breakdown of bicameralism] was also evidenced in children who could communicate with the gods, but as their neurology was set by language and society they gradually lost that ability.” So it’s more a matter of nurture than of nature. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702/107 "2010-07-25T01:44:57Z")
If I may… You know those caveman characters in the Geico insurance ads? The Cavebaby would grow up just like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-a-cave-man-baby-and-raised-it-in-2010-would-it-have-a-normal-iq-and-do-ok-in-school/547702.md?page=5)