Evolution of the human brain: when bigger is better

[Drashner1]

It seems reasonable to me that someone seeking to engineer a sophont with a larger bio-brain would eventually run into some point of diminishing returns or 'you just can't get there from here' situation that would require either a more direct redesign of the brain. This might involve a different overall structure analogous to Extherian's mention of elephants and whales having different brain structures, or the introduction of 'bio-augmentics' such as (for example) biologically grown brain structures making use of conductive elements to move signals closer to electronic speeds or 'bio-fiber optics' or other light based methods to move signals at closer to optical speeds. IIRC we make some mention of this sort of thing in the Silk God article, but less advanced versions (comparatively speaking) would likely be in the metaphorical toolbox of sophonts interested in this kind of thing for thousands of years beforehand.

My 2c worth,

Todd