>>16718506 (OP)
there's a chance that the dinos would've gotten extinct either way due to the deacon traps, altho this is very debated
some paleontologists argue that the dinos could've survived the asteroid and it consequences on the climate but the deacon traps sealed their fate, some say the deacon traps had little effect on their extinction
there's a lot of debate about it
the thing is that, its possible that dinos could've reached human level of intellect but it would all come down to pressures from the environment, mutations and population groups
there's this idea that, again, the deacon traps had been contributing to a slow but sure change in the climate for millions of years leading to a decline in species of dinosaurs in the late cretaceous, so its possible that these environmental stresses of a changing climate and decline in species diversity could've lead the dinosaurs still around to develop into new niches and develop all sorts of new traits, including more complex brains
but again, not only is this giga speculative, but highly debated, as some people in the field will again say that the decline of diversity in dino species in the late cretaceous was not evidence that the dinosaurs were already struggling let alone struggling due to the deacon traps
also for a final theory, there is this idea that a very small minority of dinosaurs were able to survive the asteroid and the deacon traps for millions of years, thats right, these dinosaurs were still around as the age of mammals was starting but even tho they survived the extinction event, they could not adapt and compete with the new species on the block fast enough, specifically of course, the mammals
so I guess there might be a world where these few remaining dinos did adapt to this very different post cretaceous extinction event and developed bigger brains due to these new massive pressures, but we'll never know
