2 Questions about human evolution from a logical view point.?

Question

I learned in school that humans evoloved into intelligen beings because of a diet change that caused an increase in protien in the diet. This inturn caused the brain to grow. The effect, a smarter species. Is this correct?

If it is correct, then it can be said that eating protien leads to increased brain size, which leads to increased intelligence. These are direct cause and effects. Why are there not other species that have higher intelligence like we do? I.e. lions, tigers and bears (oh my) who eat a lot more protien then we do. I am not saying every creature that eats a high protien diet, by what I am asking is why is there not a couple more?

It wasn't Liberty. I took my AA courses at a liberal community college and learned this from both highschool and Discovery channel. Not Liberty, which by the way, is a very good school.

Answer 1

The first assertion is incorrect, rendering the questions invalid.

The essence of evolution is very simple: Those mutations that lead to greater success in reproduction, crowd out those that do not. Humans prospered because their intelligence increased their survival rate, but there was no process pushing our predecessor species in that direction.

There is a possibility that our intelligence is a by-product of a mutation that caused our brains to grow too large. In other mammalian species, the skull bones are solid and the synapses of the brain are fully formed at birth. In humans however those processes continue for three months after birth. We are all born three months premature, because too that's the only way most of us could still pass through the birth canal.

Interestingly enough, the mental stimulation of light, sound and touch stimulates the developing brain to build more neural connection than it would have otherwise. Those added connections result in increased intelligence. For more information, look up studies of babies who are left to lie in their cribs in orphanages, babies who are not given stimulation or attention.

Answer 2

The avalibility of food is a direct factor in the development of human tissue, that is accepted. However since food is so easily avaliable now as it was compared too a few hundred years, humans these days are taller (and fatter!) than they were back then. It doesnt mean to say if you eat a lot you will grow tall, but there is a connection with daily calorific value and average height of population over time.

The evolution of humans from the genetic point of view is that it was no random accident. Genes mutate from parent to sibling but if the mutated gene in the sibling is to its advantage it is kept and passed on. Humans evolved or should I say the species had a different genetic mutation from the common ansestor.

Protien, or lack therof leads to poor muscle deveolpment, but can be found in many other foodstuffs other than meats.

There are no other 'higher intelligences' like us as they didnt mutate exactly the same as we did. Thats the beuty of mutation.

Answer 3

What about dolphins? The problem stems from how humans have defined intelligence. It is sapio-biased.

It is a leading theory that the proteins in red meat helped the brain grow. I would suggest Sex, Time and Power by Leonard Shlain. It's a good book that explains the theories on evolution and the possible errors in hypothesis. Now, to say that lions and tigers aren't smart would be an error. They do indeed show intelligence in hunting and family matters. They just don't show human tool making ability (but apes do and some do eat meat).

Answer 4

From what I understand the diet is only one piece of the evolutionary puzzle. For one thing, the development of hands made the using of tools possible. This made the development of intelligence useful for the making of better and better tools. Intelligence or anything else would never develop if there is no good way to put it to use.

"why is there not a couple more?" It may well be because intelligence, as we understand it, is something very new to the world. We are natures guinea big in this regard. If it turns out to be something nature wants to stick with, is up in the air. So far it seems to be a bit of a virus to the world.

Answer 5

That's a bunch of nonsense. The brain is composed more of fats than of proteins.

Also, that hypothesis assumes that behavioral changes in parent generation result in changes to the genes of the children generation. Behavior is passed down through learning, not genetics.

Another factor is that evolution is more likely to happen when a species is put under stress, so that individuals have to compete with each other for scare resources. Then if some individuals have genes that give them a slight advantage they will be more likely to survive and pass on those genes. When resources are plentiful, there is less competition, and all individuals have a greater chance of reproducing.

Answer 6

If you want logical answers to a question about evolution, then why are you asking that question in the "Religion and Spirituality" section? You should be asking that in the "Science" section; you'll get a lot of absurd answers in the Religion section.

But anyway, your question.

No, what you learned in school is not correct; a change in diet is not what caused an increase in human intelligence.

The increased availability of protein in the diet may have been a factor in allowing for an increase of intelligence, but it is not nearly the primary cause.

The reason humans became more intelligent? Well, there are a few.

First, there's our physiology. Our intelligence actually evolved after hominids began walking upright. The combination of that sort of mobility, and our hands (which are fantastic for making tools), made it advantageous for the hominids in question to become more intelligent. - greater intelligence would allow them to be able to take advantage of their physiology even more.

Second, there's the environment. Humans evolved higher intelligence when they were living on the plains in africa. Living on the plains is very different from living in a jungle; resources are spread out, and there isn't a lot of shelter or places to hide. For a bunch of not-so-smart, walking apes, it was a somewhat dangerous place to be.

Greater intelligence was advantageous in this sense because it allowed for better problem solving, planning, that sort of thing.

Third (and, i think, most importantly), we evolved greater intelligence because we are social animals. Being more intelligent allows us to work together more effectively; a group capable of strategic thinking is very effective at survival, and at many other things. That's why humans are such good hunters - we're smarter, and we work in coordinated groups.


Whenever it is advantageous for it to do so, a species evolves. And, as you can see, intelligence was very advantageous for pre-human apes. Most other species haven't evolved intelligence for a number of reasons, but perhaps the biggest one is the cost - having and using a large, powerful brain requires a lot of energy. In most cases, that energy can be put to better use; the evolutionary cost of greater intelligence would outweigh the benefits. In our case, it worked better when put to the brain.

And...i see you go to liberty university? That probably explains it. They aren't going to give you a good education on science-related matters. Especially not on evolution.
If you'd like to learn more about science, you should pick up some textbooks from other universities. Public universities are probably the most reliable for having good textbook materials.

Answer 7

"ok we could study Evolution. So we began out with no longer something. and then no longer something exploded and made something? somewhat does not make experience." It does not make experience using fact it somewhat is not any longer even on the fringe of akin to what evolution is or states... it somewhat is a few conflates strawman version of cosmology. "there is action interior the international and each thing is moved by using something else. How became the 1st ingredient moved?" Gravity possibly, magnetism, electric powered can charge... Are all of those issues magic or do they no longer exist the two? "God in all risk?" lack of expertise is not any excuse for making up deities to describe issues. there is not any longer something to substancite the existence of any deity, so declare it did something? "The human physique is so precise and perfect so as that each and every equipment works completely (from atoms to eco-platforms)." different than for, y'understand, maximum cancers and ailment an parasites and poisons and chemical imbalance and the reality that we are able to in elementary terms stay to tell the tale interior of an extremely slender selection of situations... Yeah, the human physique is optimal very properly (sarcasm) "it form of feels strange that each and every person of that would have basically befell by using twist of destiny." A) it did no longer take place by using twist of destiny B) no longer occurring by using twist of destiny does not make it magic, organic regulations and residences and ingredients are completely able to springing up a organic international C) using fact something seems "strange" to you does no longer recommend something...

Answer 8

1) I have never heard that explanation, and it's not consistent with the fact that humans are not carnivores exclusively. Yet other less intelligent creatures are.
I'm not sure where you got that.

2) Oh, nevermind, your other question was based on the validity of your first.


Could you please provide a reference for this thing that you learned in school?

This sounds extremely fishy to me.




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UPDATE
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nevermind, I looked at your bio.

the school you noted was Liberty University, the far-right baptist institution.

not exactly a center for scientific inquiry, especially not in evolution.


I'm afraid that your teacher must have been smoking some crack, because whatever you were taught, it wasn't evolutionary theory.

Answer 9

You see, that's the problem with teaching evolution in schools. It's full of unproven theories that defy logic. If you want to read the truth about Creation and evolution then click on the Answers button @ http://web.express56.com/~bromar/ and you can find many scientific and historical articles that debunk the myth that people started out when a lightning bolt went charging around through a chemical stew billions of years ago that resulted in a one celled creature that somehow just by time and chance eventually turned into a man and an elephant and a giraffe and a butterfly and a humming bird and a....

Answer 10

I agree with extton, who has actually given adequate clue, by way of resolving your question.