Or is the problem that structure requires symmetry breaks through separation, and the ocean is 3d while land is 2D?
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You sure there’s a reason?
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No, but I think that it is likely. There are also a number of designs that evolved on land and went back into the ocean (outcompeting ocean dwellers). The land may have been the ocean's MIT. :)
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Even without food limits, energetics are unfavorable to support big brains. Water is 800 times denser than air, and 1/30th of the oxygen, so mass flux to fuel the body is much higher. Endothermy very hard in water due to specific heat (my PNAS 2017 & bioRxiv 2019)
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Thank you, that makes a lot of sense. Cetaceans seem to be the only known ocean dwellers with large brains and long childhoods, and they are air breathing and homeothermic. Some sharks come close, though. I wonder where the limit for krakens lies.
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Great question and my initial answer was that you can't swing a hammer with enough force to knock in a nail, but then I thought - it's cause all the water keeps putting out the metallurgical furnace fires. But the real answer is fins don't grow opposable thumbs.
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Worse: you cannot write under water, so there are no nerds in aquatic societies, and all the dolphins and octopi ever talk about is sports and sex.
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I would add
@malcolmmaciver’s point that the key cognitive difference between water & land is long-range visibility. Only through air are eyes able to see far ahead and thus plan far ahead with ever bigger brains.https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll/status/1110183986305757185?s=21 … -
In most circumstances, I can only see a few dozen meters at best, before there is an obstacle that hides whatever goes on at the ground level...
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Yeah, there is not much food to start with and it's difficult to store/hoard in water. On land you can just pile up grain as long as it is dry.
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