Where it all started.

Not sure, but I am interested in this topic too. I have read a variety of articles regarding the ancestors of modern humans, especially about Neanderthals. I even read an article about a cave in Europe with bones from 2 different human species that lived in the same cave 100,000 years apart!

@quagmiretoilet you have lots of interesting posts and you seem like an interesting person

Thank you for your comments, I believe they are far too generous lol.

Let me introduce something to this thread, our phylogeny is closely related to that of pan troglodytes or the modern chimpanzee. In terms of raw intelligence, both Chimpanzee and human individuals utilise tools, work closely together in small communities and engage in acts of extreme violence. What sets us apart in this regard is our ability to communicate, coordinate and strategize. For any change to the anatomical makeup of an individual within a population, there must be a significant selection pressure driving it. In the case of the size of particular cortical regions of the brain (those commonly associated with higher thought and critical thinking as opposed to scent, touch and sight as in neanderthalensis) it seems odd to me that such a feature would have developed and quite as rapidly as it did.

Nathan H.Lents in his book "Human Errors" (which is a great read for anyone wanting to go into the human physiological sciences) outlines the evolutionary basis for intelligence. Essentially, competing groups of organisms will frequently engage in acts of violence in order to gain territory or resources. Intelligence in this regard is a means to an end, allowing the better adapted groups in terms of communication and tactics to rapidly usurp another. Homo Sapiens frequently intermingled and cross-bred with other hominid and ape-like species within sub-Saharan Africa which probably also contributed to our early success. We out-competed and out-bred using our brutality and brains to overtake other species in the melting pot of early human history.

So the next time you compliment someone on their intelligence or critical thinking skills, bear in mind that it likely arose off the backs of the suffering of millions of both humans and intelligent hominid and ape species. You only need glance around to see the effects of intelligence and it may well be evolutionary predisposition for self-destruction.