Home The Evolution of Intelligence The relatively rapid ascension of the human mind to its current level of complexity has been a phenomena for speculation. What enabled, or caused, humans to develop such unique cognitive capabilities? Why were humans the only species to develop a brain as a primary survival tool? Were there others and driven to extinction? One theory connects with language. The reasoning is that some groups, due to challenges they encountered in their environment, found it useful to communicate with increasingly complex and distinctive sounds. This led to what we call language and gave these groups a more effective means to persuade and convince and organize. These proto humans were able to work together more efficiently in all areas including self-defense. Thus they developed the power to better protect themselves and dominate other groups organized primarily around a hierarchy of brute force. Those most adept at persuading and organizing others became chiefs and kings. And in the early human world, chiefs were not only allowed, but often encouraged, to take multiple wives -- sometimes numbering in the hundreds. Since we would expect a fairly strong correlation between the ability to convincingly articulate and mental acuity, the gifted of the tribes were able to spread their genes more widely and the gene pool changed. And then there was us. One might wonder whether there were other competing groups on similar paths and what might have happened to them. It would probably be safe to assume that if this occurred, less developed rivaling groups were dispatched in ways similar to the apparent forced extinction of Neanderthals following the migration of modern humans into their territory. And the same for other rivals. The survival of the fittest must have prevailed or our existence would be inexplicable. Throughout our history stronger or more competent societies have demonstrated little tolerance for weaker ones when competing for resources - viz. the fates in the indigenous populations of the Americas, Australia, Africa, and so on. A consequence of this conjecture is that monogamous marriage based on love, in the context of our evolution, is a rather recent cultural invention that is at odds with the evolutionary process that led to the development of our greater cognitive abilities. And it often seems that the contemporary marriage model has its problems since it fails most of the time and seems to offer minimal direction to the trending of the quantity and quality of offspring. And it is becoming increasingly obvious that the combining effects of our increasing numbers, increasing material consumption, and the increasingly easy access to lethal technologies that are becoming increasingly lethal, threatens to overwhelm and disrupt the ecological balances that have allowed our biosphere to be supportive to many forms of life. Add to this an electoral system that seems to pander to the cognitively challenged and we might begin to wonder about the future we passing to our off spring. It would appear that our floundering indulgences threaten to overwhelm and disrupt the ecological balances that have allowed our biosphere to be supportive to many forms of life including our own. Maybe we should question why we are so viscerally opposed to polygamy and other alternative forms of relationships. And whether, considering the long-term effects of our current breeding patterns on the human gene pool, it might not make sense to consider other models. One option might be to allow (and maybe encourage) polygamy among those whom we believe to be examples of competence, while limiting reproductive rights for those at the opposite end of the scale. Obviously, there would probably be problems due to a lack of sexual partners among the disenfranchised. In our distant past, the chiefs and their allies likely managed this potentially disruptive energy by allowing prostitution, homosexuality, and rallying the excess excluded males to offer their lives in ongoing warfare. These options would probably not go far in the world of today. But, considering how our cognitive powers developed, and the ways we are currrently breeding we might want to consider ways to improve selection processes. We will probably never understand all of the developmental factors that contributed to our unique intelligence, but speculation regarding our past and where we are currently headed is certainly appropriate - particularly if we view the modern world as muddling along towards a potential collapse of civilization and life on a scale much greater than anything in our history. We seem to be blindly traveling in a rut hemmed in by walls of ignorance and apathy. Sooner or later, whether we like it or not, we will be forced to think out of the box.