How did humans become so intelligent? Evolution?
According to science, Homo Erectus is the "primitive" ancestor of Homo Sapiens (us).
My first question is, how did humans evolve from a kind of "ape" to being capable of building airplanes, rockets, and other technologies?
My second question is, why have only we humans evolved like this and not the other "great apes" (chimpanzees, gorillas, etc.)?
I asked this question to my biology professor at university, and he explained it to me in terms of evolution, but that it hasn't been fully researched yet, so maybe one of you has an explanation. I find the question really fascinating.
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There were certainly other species that evolved in parallel with us – Neanderthals, Denisovans, Homo heidelbergensis… Ultimately, however, Homo sapiens prevailed over all of these species (whether by exterminating them or interbreeding with them), and now there's only one species left on the planet that possesses such intelligence. According to current research, Neanderthals were very intelligent and could even have grasped the concept of a rocket or something similar, but they weren't as social as Homo sapiens, and as a result, they became extinct.
It's all about the mass. Brain mass, of course, which is three to four times higher in humans than in other great apes.
The enlargement of the brain was clearly a risky ride, and perhaps it was also a stroke of luck that it turned out well. The brain not only needs nourishment; it consumes 20% of energy at rest in adults, and even more in children. It also needs early access to air because it can no longer be supplied by the placenta, which is why we are premature babies. The problem with the female pelvis is a further factor.
The larger brain must have an advantage at all times, because evolution doesn't rely on promises of the future. Mastery of fire and sophisticated techniques for obtaining food were only made possible by a larger brain, and at the same time, they enabled a complex and fragile feedback process.
It just barely worked out, and even then opinions are divided.
These are my thoughts on the matter, I find them somewhat plausible, but of course it hasn't been 100% researched, your professor is right about that.
Who's to say that others don't have the potential to become intelligent someday? It might just take a few million years.
And there's no evidence that humans are the first intelligent life form on this planet. Perhaps it existed 1-2 billion years ago?
If you look at the evolution of the animal kingdom, you'll see that some animals certainly have a certain degree of intelligence. However, it's questionable whether they have the potential to become as intelligent as humans.
But what exactly is intelligence, as we describe it? The ability to learn, communicate, and understand. This development is accelerating ever faster.
Just a few thousand years ago, no human could read or write. Language consisted only of sounds. Cave paintings were the only means of preserving knowledge. Today, we have dozens of highly developed languages. Only in the last few centuries has it been possible to pass on extensive knowledge to future generations.
A few thousand years ago, there were already some very clever minds. And they came up with ways to pass on their knowledge to future generations. Nevertheless, most of it has disappeared. Occasionally, it has been rediscovered, such as the Nebra Sky Disk a few years ago. Others have ensured that it cannot be lost so easily, for example, by building Stonehedge.
This question is on a par with the Big Bang Theory and the infinity of the universe. So, I'm a documentary fan, not a scientist. But everyone has their own theories if real scientists can't answer it. The usual ones here would be upright walking with all its advantages, the control of fire and thus better absorption of protein. For me, three points mainly come into question. The first is…pure luck. Humans simply found the perfect niche at some point. They were neither the largest animals, nor the fastest or most dangerous, but they weren't weak either. The second is…permanent changes that forced them to adapt again. And third…I mainly believe in suddenly appearing mutations, new genes, etc. I imagine it like something like Da Vinci or Einstein a million years ago, of course corresponding to the level of development at the time. Somehow, there's always someone who can do something no one else can, thanks to certain genetic mutations. If they pass these mutations on, they become established and can be found in more and more offspring. I once heard that blue eyes originate from a single person, a mutation. And they've existed ever since, right up to the present day. As I said, my theory is completely dubious. :-))) A geneticist would probably throw up their hands in despair.
What are your theories?
I have the same theories as you, and we at university have the same opinion as you mentioned (I only recently started studying, so I'm not that familiar with it yet).
Another possibility would be the struggle for survival due to competitors, since several human species existed at the same time, Homo sapiens (and the other Neanderthals etc) were probably forced to evolve as quickly as possible if they wanted to survive.
Our professor always says that one can more or less only make theories based on finds (bones, etc.), but what exactly happened back then cannot be said due to the long period of time.
We are the only beings who can receive information.
Almost all of humanity's knowledge is digital.
A monkey has to learn everything from scratch and cannot pass on much.
Language and printing are crucial.
I know that, but I mean, why can only we do that? Why didn't the monkeys learn that too if we're so similar.
We're only related to great apes, but we don't descend directly from them. We diverged from them evolutionarily early on.
Over time, humans, unlike apes, developed larger brains, which led to the ability to think abstractly. This laid the foundation for all subsequent developments.
We're a lot smarter. We have more stamina, etc.
languages also use other animal species
Printing has only existed for a few hundred years, and even writing only a few thousand years – but human evolution goes back several million years
Therefore, we don't descend from apes; they are our closest relatives. And of course, Homo sapiens belongs to the great ape family. I meant "only related to *other* great apes" above. Humans don't like to call themselves apes. That's why "great apes" usually refers to the animal form (yes, even though humans are animals too…)
We share a common ancestor. However, these were not apes. From this ancestor emerged various evolutionary lines that led to the various great apes (including us).
We are apes and obviously descended from other apes. What makes you think that Homo sapiens doesn't belong to the ape family?
An intelligent being would not destroy the planet that contains its basis for existence.
Therefore, I doubt the intelligence of humans as a species.
I don't think we've evolved particularly far. We've elevated our belief in technology to a religion, and now we slaughter each other with drones instead of bludgeons. Otherwise, everything's the same.
To say that humans are "intelligent" is a misconception. Humans are the stupidest things in existence. They knowingly destroy their habitat through their actions. Every animal is more intelligent than humans.
Animals do the same thing. If rabbit populations aren't kept in check by predators, they multiply exponentially and eat all the plants until they die and die by the thousands. This has been observed in Australia, for example.
Pretty much every animal does this, even yeast: It produces alcohol until it falls into a drunken coma and dies. ☺
Yes, that even applies to the smallest bacterium. Every liquid agar colony eventually dies once the nutrients are gone. And it applies to the largest mammals: if they could, and weren't prevented by other species, they would do the same. I can't stand this self-pitying "Oh, how bad humans are." Just because we have more capacity to destroy our environment. What do we also have? The ability for self-reflection and to intervene in nature, even for the benefit of other species. They're constantly dying out in nature, too – entirely without human intervention.