08-26-2014, 04:44 AM
davester wrote:
[quote=Article Accelerator]
Beyond that, h o m o sapiens possesses certain characteristics that appear to be absolutely unique, e.g. time sense (both literal and existential), symbology and modelling, and music. None of those is a mere extension of "intelligence." We are also the only known species that cooks its food, a capability critical to efficient caloric intake and intensive exploitation of the environment. Without cooking, we likely could not have supported our brains and brain evolution.
That's not clearly true. There is a lot of evidence that early hom o sapiens didn't do any of those things any better than modern bonobos.
There is no evidence that bonobos or any other creature possesses the characteristics or capabilities I mentioned.
The appearance of homo sapiens in the fossil record does not appear to coincide with the huge intellectual leap that begat us civilization. That leap came fairly late in the reign of homo sapiens.
Agreed.
On the other hand, the things I noted along with certain other anatomical changes (e.g. laryngeal and lingual anatomy, the MYH16 gene mutation hypothesis) likely preceded and may have been necessary precursors to the leap in intelligence in h o m o sapiens.