Re: Ultimate Iron Man II #1 Discussion/Spoilers
Interesting. I've never heard that before. Well, then my complaint about it not making sense is swept to the wayside, however. . .
To be honest, I'd never heard it before, either; it was something I found while researching the whole idea of human intelligence to see if Card was actually on to something. I'll have to see if I've still got my notes at home so other people can go read the article. I'm not an expert on this subject, and I could have misread it. (Or I could go back and find it again, only to discover that it was a hypothesis put forth by scientists at, say, The Onion.
)
Edit: I do still have my notes. (I'm such a pack rat....) I think this was the article I was remembering:
The Question of Non-Human Intelligence. Quote: "The one index that appears to have any correlation with intelligence is the number of connections made by nerve cells. This scale places humans far above any other organisms, in fact "human brains maintain nearly 100 times more contacts per neuron than rat brains and most vertebrates"(2). This measure seems valid because intelligence does rely on the comparison and coordination of many different inputs from many different structures; a process which would be facilitated by an increased number of connections per neuron."
There was also this article:
Neuroscience and Intelligence. Quote: "The sheer size of the brain is relevant for two reasons. Most obviously, a small brain simply cannot hold as many brain cells as a large one. Less obvious, but more important, is that the true quality of a brain must be measured by the complexity of linkages between cells."
End edit.
And I will admit that I have no explanation for the whole regeneration thing. I've seen the fan theory that Wolverine's healing factor is actually a controlled form of cancer (which could explain the whole brain tumor thing mentioned in the first arc), but your guess is as good as mine on this one.
I understand why people find this explanation of Stark's abilities unsatisfying. One of my favorite themes in comic books is watching non-super-powered characters who can compete with the super-heroes, just because the regular person has a lot of natural talent or has worked hard to hone his/her abilities. I do, however, have considerably fewer issues with UIM than most people. Part of it is the fact that I have no real emotional involvement in the 616 version of Stark, and don't care much for his adult version in the UU, either. (Card at least made him a likeable kid.)
I'm trade-waiting on this title, so I'll get off here now and let the people who actually read the issue discuss it further. (Without the comments on the mental state of the people who read and/or like this series, please.)
