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What was the evolutionary pressure that made us intelligent - could it be ranged attack? First, what I'm calling the Geo-Fermi Paradox - why are we the only in

What was the evolutionary pressure that made us intelligent - could it be ranged attack? First, what I'm calling the Geo-Fermi Paradox - why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? Sure, it has advantages - but other animals would gain those advantages too. So why didn't they become intelligent (or, at least, more intelligent) too? Sure, there was climate-change in Africa that rewarded adaptivity - but why didn't all animals in the region become intelligent (or, at least, more intelligent)? This article has a good argument for bipelalism (due to forests becoming plains). And an interesting argument for stone throwing (and not available to bipeds like ostriches and emus). Throwing rewards spatial reasoning, providing an evolutionary pressure It's not clear to me that this would lead to intelligence - but maybe it did. (OTOH bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans, and capuchins throw too https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Projectile_use_by_non-human_organisms https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Projectile_use_by_non-human_organ...).

im3w1l 7y ago
If we consider other hominids, we don't know exactly, but it seems we outcompeted them. If we consider more distant animals, because we converted the entire planet to provide for us much faster than they could evolve to catch up with us.
- hyperpallium 7y ago
  I think that's the "we just happened to be first" argument. Which could be true, but not very satisfying, because no detail.
  - GarrisonPrime 7y ago
    Just because there's no detail, or it's not satisfying, doesn't mean it's less likely.
  - clacke2 7y ago
    We didn't have to be first. Other primates might have picked up the rock before we did, but eventually lost the race. Maybe the fire-cooking, rock-throwing domesticating niche is just that competitive. So it might be more like "we are the ones that remain", but yeah, either variant is a spin on the old weak anthropic principle, which is never quite satisfying.
    - hyperpallium 7y ago
      And we do seem to have wiped out/outcompeted Neanderthals etc. > fire-cooking, rock-throwing domesticating niche Just knowing if that was the evolutionary pressure along the path would be enough for me (even if it could have been another ape or a corvid or whatever - or maybe they are on that path now?) BTW Matt Ridley has the theory that division of labour (trade enabling specialization) was the gradient.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  However, the pressure has to have been exerted before humans outcompeted other hominids. This might seem too obvious, but you can't have an effect preceding its cause.
RichEO 7y ago
I believe there is some evidence to suggest that we have not always been the sole intelligent species on the planet. Notably there is some speculation that Neanderthals were of equal or similar intelligence to early humans
- hyperpallium 7y ago
  Perhaps arguing semamtics, but Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal) were "human": could interbreed, and had Lucy etc as common ancestors.
rriepe 7y ago
This article glosses over it but I think the answer is cooking. Cooking took pressure off our digestive system which allowed us to stack it up vertically.
- insulanus 7y ago
  I think that's a trong contender for biggest contributer. Natural food was was less calorie dense back then. I wonder if we reached a point where we could consume the most calories per pound of our own body weight, and never looked back.
- kasperni 7y ago
  Richard Wrangham wrote a book on this "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human"
insulanus 7y ago
> why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? The process is not stuck in time. If we disappeared, another ape (or some other animal) might get where we are eventually, through some other path.
tasuki 7y ago
> why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? Are other animals not intelligent? Are you sure we are intelligent? I guess that the difference between apes and humans would be minuscule to the outside observer.
- qnsi 7y ago
  if you are interested I have good article for you listing some differences between humans and animals http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Sharkey/2008-darwin.pdf http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Sharkey/2008-darwin....
- hyperpallium 7y ago
  You can argue for their intelligence, but they can't argue for yours.
dennisgorelik 7y ago
> why didn't all animals in the region become intelligent Because humans took over that "being intelligent" niche and outcompeted everyone else who tried to capitalize on intelligence. Speaking in Venture Capitalists language, humans "sucked the oxygen from the room".
ufmace 7y ago
I've been inclined to think it has something to do with communication and community-forming tendencies. It seems that a number of other species, including Octopuses and African Grey Parrots, have pretty significant intelligence for animals. Yet their greater intelligence than most other animals doesn't seem to get them a really game-changing advantage over them. Human intelligence, or perhaps communication and organization in combination with them, has given us a series of game-changing advantages in a row, so many that our civilization is utterly dominant over any area where we choose to be.

im3w1l 7y ago

If we consider other hominids, we don't know exactly, but it seems we outcompeted them. If we consider more distant animals, because we converted the entire planet to provide for us much faster than they could evolve to catch up with us.

hyperpallium 7y ago
I think that's the "we just happened to be first" argument. Which could be true, but not very satisfying, because no detail.
- GarrisonPrime 7y ago
  Just because there's no detail, or it's not satisfying, doesn't mean it's less likely.
- clacke2 7y ago
  We didn't have to be first. Other primates might have picked up the rock before we did, but eventually lost the race. Maybe the fire-cooking, rock-throwing domesticating niche is just that competitive. So it might be more like "we are the ones that remain", but yeah, either variant is a spin on the old weak anthropic principle, which is never quite satisfying.
  - hyperpallium 7y ago
    And we do seem to have wiped out/outcompeted Neanderthals etc. > fire-cooking, rock-throwing domesticating niche Just knowing if that was the evolutionary pressure along the path would be enough for me (even if it could have been another ape or a corvid or whatever - or maybe they are on that path now?) BTW Matt Ridley has the theory that division of labour (trade enabling specialization) was the gradient.
perl4ever 7y ago
However, the pressure has to have been exerted before humans outcompeted other hominids. This might seem too obvious, but you can't have an effect preceding its cause.

RichEO 7y ago

I believe there is some evidence to suggest that we have not always been the sole intelligent species on the planet. Notably there is some speculation that Neanderthals were of equal or similar intelligence to early humans

hyperpallium 7y ago
Perhaps arguing semamtics, but Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal) were "human": could interbreed, and had Lucy etc as common ancestors.

rriepe 7y ago

This article glosses over it but I think the answer is cooking. Cooking took pressure off our digestive system which allowed us to stack it up vertically.

insulanus 7y ago
I think that's a trong contender for biggest contributer. Natural food was was less calorie dense back then. I wonder if we reached a point where we could consume the most calories per pound of our own body weight, and never looked back.
kasperni 7y ago
Richard Wrangham wrote a book on this "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human"

insulanus 7y ago

> why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? The process is not stuck in time. If we disappeared, another ape (or some other animal) might get where we are eventually, through some other path.

tasuki 7y ago

> why are we the only intelligent animal on Earth? Are other animals not intelligent? Are you sure we are intelligent? I guess that the difference between apes and humans would be minuscule to the outside observer.

qnsi 7y ago
if you are interested I have good article for you listing some differences between humans and animals http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Sharkey/2008-darwin.pdf http://staffwww.dcs.shef.ac.uk/people/A.Sharkey/2008-darwin....
hyperpallium 7y ago
You can argue for their intelligence, but they can't argue for yours.

dennisgorelik 7y ago

> why didn't all animals in the region become intelligent Because humans took over that "being intelligent" niche and outcompeted everyone else who tried to capitalize on intelligence. Speaking in Venture Capitalists language, humans "sucked the oxygen from the room".

ufmace 7y ago

I've been inclined to think it has something to do with communication and community-forming tendencies. It seems that a number of other species, including Octopuses and African Grey Parrots, have pretty significant intelligence for animals. Yet their greater intelligence than most other animals doesn't seem to get them a really game-changing advantage over them. Human intelligence, or perhaps communication and organization in combination with them, has given us a series of game-changing advantages in a row, so many that our civilization is utterly dominant over any area where we choose to be.