>>12863465>This. The blue whale might have the largest brain OP but it also has the largest body. Imagine all of the wiring needed to just to feel pain. The blue whale brain is dedicated to a lot of autonomic functions such as breathing (which is why they can hold their breathes for 9+hours at a time) and echolocation. Despite being so massive, blue whales exclusively diet in plankton which is interesting because they can't propel themselves as fast as other fish can through water because they are so massive, even though the genetic framework for omnivore is there.I suspect it's possible there's an inverse corollary to this, too. Someone with locked-in syndrome due to neural damage related to autonomous and muscle/movement function claimed their IQ raised by 20+ points over their pre-incident IQ when they eventually recovered.
Until recovery, they had zero control over their body and most bodily function for years, but could think, ideate, visualize, and remember things fairly clearly. Basically was a brain floating in empty space
I think it's maybe not impossible that with all those neurons dedicated to the body now being jobless, neuroplasticity caused many of them to repurpose themselves for cognitive and other intelligence-based functions
If this is true, you could possibly genuinely become more intelligent if you remove your body and just become a literal brain in a vat. (Though if we can achieve brain vats obviously we'll come up with other, probably more effective ways to make oneself smarter)
In theory, perhaps an elephant which becomes a brain in a vat could become far smarter, if neuroplasticity works well enough
I'm pretty much basing all this on random speculation though, obviously
