Why did only humans develop our great brains? (2 Viewers)

[FuckLiberals]

Well, yes. You have the ability, or you die out. You pass it on, you live, you mutate, pass on mutations, survival of fittest, ETCETERA AD INFINITUM.

You're a moron. Don't say something unless you know what the fuck you're talking about.

 

[SashatheMan]

Yes but conscience is a product of our large brains not a cause of it.

My favourite eating theory is the nice seafood one - the creatures who evolved into us happened to live near the sea. In time they learnt to eat seafood the protein and other stuff rich seafood gave us big brains. Unlikley but romantic (in a non French way....).

shouldnt sharks and crabs be the most intelligent creatures. their diet is seafood only

 

[SashatheMan]

i think if you want to know the answer why we developed the largest and most complex brain compared to our body size, we need to look back when the modern humans just detached from the other groups.

i think it was because we were able to communicate which allowed for more complex tasks to be carried out, also as someone said, there was a really good diet , which allowed the brain to grow. I remember there was a docu that showed our ancestors actually having thier brain shrink cuase of thier poor diet.
i think that those were the major contributors for development of out brain. After that as we were able to think more complex thoughts, out brains worked more, and increased in size in an evolutionary way. This led to even more complex thinking and it just exponentially evolved from then,

 

[StGeorgeDragons]

amazing how all creatures are related so closely. we all have organs, brain, eyes. (most things). if alien life was discovered, y would it have any of these things. being on a different planet means its totaly unrelated.

Humans are the only animals that have religion, apart from the praying mantis.

 

[SashatheMan]

i remember watchign some show that said flies and humans have alot of common DNA, even being totally diffent.

but the flies had less DNa or something. i wish i saw that show again

 

[ur_inner_child]

i never thought of that before... the killing of the competitor.

When I was young I came up (not that I believed) with the theory that an alien went down and had sex with a chimp. My science teacher said it was a valid theory.

That aside, a lot of animals learn from mistakes. As with dogs, rats, even butterflies esp when you're training them. It's the same concept. "if you do this - i get this"

And the comment about us communicating - animals communicate as well, but I agree with this, more to do with our extensive ability to socialise with our own kind that are outside our blood family. As with dolphins, who don't necessarily group together in blood relation. In doing this, I suppose you accumulate new knowledge etc rather than keeping it all in the family.

I'm actually not quite sure. I like the killing. It's a dark history, I like it.

 

[Armani]

It was contemplated that the ability to 'imagine', that is perceive events that have yet occur, was the reason our species was able to overcome other species. Also our ability to adapt to many climates is another reason why out species survived while that of the Neanderthals had died out.

 

[Kwayera]

You're a moron. Don't say something unless you know what the fuck you're talking about.

So, you don't agree with the (well, highly simplified version) of Darwin's evolution? Because, unless I was looking the wrong way, this happens to be largely what this thread is about.

Haven't you got anything better to do than crash random threads for the sole purpose of needling me? Pathetic.

 

[zahid]

Not-That-Bright has a small NUNU.

 

[malkin86]

All primates share a better sense of sight than of smell, eyes at the front of the head, (giving an overlapping field of view and better depth perception), great hands for manipulating small objects, among other traits.

I reckon that in some ways, you can only be as intelligent as your limits will let you be. I.e. You won't be selected to survive ("be intelligent") if you live in a nice, safe, boring box, with nothing around to improve or detriment your lot.

It also depends on what kind of intelligence is helpful in the situation - Steve Grand, who developed Creatures, a very detailed artificial life simulation reckoned that:

"There's much more to intelligence than logic. Most of the AI pioneers were mathematical magicians and philosophers and to them, thinking was about logic, about reason. But it has to grow out of more primitive systems, and most intelligence is not logical. Most of the time we are not reasoning people. Dogs tend not to argue about syllogisms, but they still seem bright. Chuck IBM's Deep Blue chess computer and a dog into a pond, and see which one climbs out first. Which means that intelligence is grounded in survival. If you haven't got a reason to think, you won't think, and survival is what motivates us."

If it's purely size that you're interested in, then your answer is probably somewhere in nutrition, and the methods that we employed to get that nutrition. If you're searching for a more holistic approach, 'what makes us human?' then it can never fully be answered here. You could try your university's library for books/journal articles on human evolution, for a start.

More generally speaking; according to my biology lecturer last session, the 'hidden' menstrual cycle was a big part of human evolutionary success, because babies can be born all year round. More babies = more chance that some will survive to reproductive age. Also, the long gestational period has some significance.

Also, the development of agriculture 10,000 years ago or so was a biggie. More convienient and larger food supply meant that the ones who thought it up got the food. Give a man a fish, he is fed for a day.. etc.

 

[loquasagacious]

Also apparently wee utilise grandparents pretty uniquely (well except for eskimos...), in that we are apparently the only species to keep grandparents around to care for and teach kids whilst parents are out hunting and gathering.

 

[Kwayera]

Not necessarily. Most wolves live in extended family groups, usually with a dominant male/female pair and their offspring - however, older wolves usually hang about, acting as babysitters while the main pack goes hunting. Elephant females live in herds headed by a matriarch, who may be a grandmother or GREAT grandmother to calves born in the herd. Orca females live in pods all their lives, staying with their mothers and grandmothers - if a calf's mother is not particularly skilled at a hunting technique, such as the beaching that happens in Argentina and the Crozets, an older, more skilled member - such as an aunt or a grandmother - will teach it.

It's not uncommon - staying in family groups is an effective way to hunt, care for young, etc. Because it is advantageous, many animals adopt it.

 

[Götterfunken]

Dolphins are similarly devious. 'So long and thanks for all the fish' type stuff.

They tried to warn us!

 

[kami]

Well, honestly we have to look at the other intelligent species and ask - why did they not evolve into dominance in preference to us?

Parrots for instance have high fairly decent colour vision - much like primates. Also like primates they have strong cognitive skills in that certain species can deduce patterns and learn ideas(certainly more so than a dog or cat), for example the African Grey Parrot Alex has been trained to use words to identify objects, describe them, count them, and even answer complex questions such as "How many red squares?" (with accuracy). Also like us, parrots are capable of manipulating objects with their "hands". They like us also have fairly long lifespans and are gregarious too. So why aren't they super duper smart? Simple - because of time, geography and the cold(no Europe for you mr.tropic bird!).

They started later on the evolutionary pathway to big brains than we did, they also developed initially in areas that didn't require the advanced cognitive capabilities shown by the African Grey so they needed to move to environments with different needs in order to become the "smart parrot" so to speak except the conditions that were beginning to make these birds smart also brought them in closer to humans - and thats a sure way to slow down an evolutionary process.
So thats an example of why a candidate for the big brain award might have got the consolation prize instead.

With dolphins, considering we haven't exactly rocked the marine world until fairly recently in the scheme of things I'd suggest they just don't need it, in the marine environment they *are* the most intelligent species and they fill their niche - why do they need to develop any further?(keeping in mind that for a development their must be a need).

 

[Not-That-Bright]

(keeping in mind that for a development their must be a need).

Not true at all, we don't 'need' to be geniuses, it just worked for us. We could of just had 13 babies or something, and been stupid monkeys, the species still would of survived.

 

[Kwayera]

Fuck me, you have no idea what Darwins theory of evolution is do you? Your aswer isn't highly simplified it is entirely incorrect.

And no, NCAP is the only forum I actually like posting in.

*coughs like a professor*

Darwin's Theory of Evolution, Simplified.

-Changes in environment - i.e. climate change, sudden crash of a predator/prey population, sudden introduction of a new predator (i.e. humans)
-Creatures within a species with certain physical mutations survive change - i.e. tolerance warmer/cooler climate, body size and speed, camoflague, whatever
-Creatures that do not posess the adaption DIE OUT ZOMG because they cannot adapt to the environment change
-Therefore population of species WITH mutation survives to pass it onto next generation; those without do not. THEREFORE THE SPECIES EVOLVES.
-Therefore the minor extinction of some species, freeing up niches in the environment that allow species to adapt to exploit that environment, ZOMG EVOLUTION.

Got a better summary?

 

[inasero]

why don't you all suspend your disbelief and go for the simpler explanation- we were all created this way...

it seems as though you're looking for a strictly evolutionary explanation NTB...you're not going to find any sorry, amoeba living in a primordial ocean don't just become humans with complex thoughts and emotions through chance alone

 

[kami]

Not true at all, we don't 'need' to be geniuses, it just worked for us. We could of just had 13 babies or something, and been stupid monkeys, the species still would of survived.

Ah - but rapid reproduction would have been a response to a need also - we developed our cognitive skills so we could solve more complex problems and thus become dominant, if stupidity was expedient we would have that instead.
Looking at the example I made above you can see birds that specialised in different areas, they all have that same evolutionary potential for brains but not all of them take that directive because it is pointless. Its the same reason we don't have the same dexterity of digits on our feet that chimps had, and most likely our ancestors - they were pointless.

 

[SashatheMan]

why don't you all suspend your disbelief and go for the simpler explanation- we were all created this way...

it seems as though you're looking for a strictly evolutionary explanation NTB...you're not going to find any sorry, amoeba living in a primordial ocean don't just become humans with complex thoughts and emotions through chance alone

so if your saying we didnt evolve from amoeba living in the ocean , then what yuor saying is we were just created one day.

How long ago was this (years), and how intelligent were we then?

 

[MoonlightSonata]

I think the more pertinent concern is the fact that we aren't evolving anymore

why don't you all suspend your disbelief and go for the simpler explanation- we were all created this way...

it seems as though you're looking for a strictly evolutionary explanation NTB...you're not going to find any sorry, amoeba living in a primordial ocean don't just become humans with complex thoughts and emotions through chance alone

.....

If I'm not mistaken, you don't believe in evolution?