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The Evolution of Intelligence

The relatively rapid evolutionary ascension of the human mind to its current level of ability and complexity is a phenomena that has caused a lot of speculation over the years. What drove or enabled us to evolve cognitive abilities that far exceed those of other species? Why were humans the only species to develop a brain as a primary survival tool? Were other species on similar paths but driven to extinction? And what often blocks us from using these abilities?

One way to help explain this is to connect mental acuity with language and link their mutual development. This assumes a positive correlation between ability to use language and mental acuity and that both of these attributes are significantly influenced by genetic factors.

Language developed because it was a useful tool. It gave those with the greater ability to create and understand a more complex range of sounds an edge. Better communication made it easier and more effective for groups to work together and accomplish tasks... including dominating those less organized. Communication was enabling. Those most adept often became leaders. And leaders were often accorded reproductive advantages such as the taking of numerous wives which enabled them to spread their genes more widely.

So a probable scenario might be that a changing environment presented changing survival challenges. Groups most able to communicate were more successful at addressing these challenges since they were better organized through leadership. And communication gave them an increased ability to analyse problems and synergistically develop and execute solutions. Thus groups or tribes most capable were successful and thrived... those less so failed and their numbers dwindled. The best communicators were more able to protect themselves and project power. In the process they dominated other groups that were still organized primarily around a hierarchy based on brute force.

One might wonder whether there were other competing groups on similar paths and what might have happened to them. It would probably a safe assumption that mentally and technologically less developed rivaling groups were dispatched in ways similar to the apparent forced extinction of Neanderthals as a result of their failure to accommodate environomental changes and the migration of modern humans into their habitat. Of course there were many factors, but competition between groups for limited resources appears likely to have been a significant contributor to their demise.

Typically most species do not long tolerate competition for resources in their ecological niche. Throughout our history stronger or more competent societies have demonstrated little tolerance for weaker ones when then there was competition for lilmited resources - viz. the fates in the indigenous populations of the Americas, Australia, Africa, etc.

We might also wonder about our current gene pool. During the last 10,000 years or so we developed survival technology enabling us to keep almost all members of our societies alive and able to breed. Rarely are limits placed on procreation. In fact irresponsible procreation (meaning people producing offspring knowing that they will be unable to provide reasonable care) has been cited as the leading cause of poverty and child abuse throughout the world. It would be difficult to make the argument that there is much ongoing positive selection in breeding based on mental ability. In fact, in most areas of the world the less capable appear to have the higher fertility rates. The long range effects of this trend on the human gene pool should be obvious.

In the US if we couple this with an electoral system that manipulates and panders to the cognitively challenged while being influenced by huge monetary interests, we should have cause to wonder about the future we are passing to our progeny. It would appear that our indulgences threaten to overwhelm and disrupt the ecological balances that not only provide for our sustenance but also the many forms of life that give our lives meaning and enjoyment.

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 likely collapse that would greatly increase world wide levels of human misery and destroy many other forms of life in the process. We seem to be blindly traveling in a rut hemmed in by walls of growing ignorance and apathy. Sooner or later we will be forced to change our ways... or perish.


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