david f,

Please forgive LOUDmouth for his antics.

He would have liked to have been an Arts grad in all those interesting things like anthropology, history, sociology, archaeology, philosophy, etc., but unfortunately he only completed school up to 6 grade.

But his heart is in the right place and that's what counts.

Mr opinion wrote: "Why have we got superior brains is like asking why did we evolve as a particular species. It just happened."

It just happened is not a reasonable answer. Evolution takes place because there is some pressure causing change. An attribute of a species does not just develop without cause or reason. Predators become more efficient in their operations, and prey become more efficient in escaping them due to the fact that those better able to perform those functions are better able to survive and produce young.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/23/17377200/human-brain-size-evolution-nature yields several hypotheses re the reason for our big brains. The article concludes:

"For now, the ultimate answer to the size of our brains is elusive. But scientists suspect there is an answer. The human brain is so unique, and so densely complicated, it’s unlikely to have developed by truly random chance."

david f,

I know there is a cause-effect relationship but we will never know what that was that set our species down the evolutionary path we took.

That's why I say "it just happened." We can speculate about what happened but the evidence is gone forever.

So I find it easier to say 'It just happened" and get on with looking at things that can be explained otherwise we end up wasting our time looking for answers that are no longer there.

I know that some environmental factor existed at some point in time that made the DNA send a message or code to some cells in a creature that caused a mutation towards higher brain capacity in order to enable the creature to adapt to the environment but we do not know and will never know what that environmental factor was because it is indiscoverable.

So I say "It just happened" and let's move on.

Sorry to sound like Dave Chappelle but (you guessed it) it just happened.

Foxy, what answer would you have for individuals who are separated from parents at birth or shortly after yet exhibit the same behavioural traits as each other? There have been numerous studies which have confirmed the genetic inheritance of behavioural traits.

jimmy2shoes

i think you are spot on in that some genetic traits are passed on.

I was taken away from my dad at age of four, and did not see him much.

But, in my teens, I noticed a lot of similarities between myself and him, escpecially personality and temper.

I think it is pretty safe to conclude that we all are infleunced by genes and environment, albeit the extent of the influence of each will differ

Chris,

I think most of us can claim to be a 'Mini Me' of someone and/or have a 'Mini Me' of ourselves.

There has been a lot of research into this area especially cognitive anthropology and cultural anthropology if you'e interested but I do warn you that it is extremely complex reading.

However I would definitely suggest Ruth Benedict's 'Chrysanthemum & the Sword' for an introduction into this stuff.