I think it was invention of fire. This kept away animals at night and gave humans time to relax and not think about being eaten constently. This gave then time to just sit and think for once.
2007-01-18 04:56:52 · 15 answers · asked by therernonameleft 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Interesting idea. The invention of fire would give humans leisure to explore their world, and I'm sure it was of great help. I suspect that the development of the capacity for language was also right up there. Given language, people could sit around the fire and discuss what they were thinking. The act of conversation itself would aid in the development of memory, and increase the neural connections in the brain.
2007-01-18 05:14:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are talking about the change from primate to human, it would be the moment one used a rock or a stick as a tool. The ability to manipulate the world beyond simple survival meant those who could hold objects (the development of the thumb) and could figure out how to use them were the most successful gatherers of food, thus they survived.
If you are talking about the change in neanderthal and cromagnon, how civilization began, it would be when self-awareness began. Monkeys cannot understand "live" and "dead", only humans can; it is the ability to be aware of themselves of their surroundings of remembering facts beyond what is learned through parenting or trial and error that sets us apart.
Evolution is a lot like the Fibonacci sequence. (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 34, etc.) Small, individual traits will accumulate over time and become large change, so it doesn't take a dramatic event or "magic", all it takes is one species or family in a species to be slightly more successful than its competitors.
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2007-01-18 14:00:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Brain development over time is consistent with one other development: the realignment of the spine over time that facilitated walking upright and freed the hands to do something else.
Another important factor, according to many authorities including the renowned Terrence McKenna, was that brain development received an additional kick-start by the periodic ingestion of various herbs, such as cannabis, and myco-forms, such as psylocibe.
2007-01-18 13:03:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The thing that was most instrumental in humans developing their minds was adversity. If it was easy to live in their environment, they would have never needed to be smarter to survive. There were other hominids that died off because they simply fit too well with their environment. Our ancestors had to figure out what to do within the environment to better suit us, versus us being better suited for the environment. By thinking, we were then able to create fire. (Yes, it did give us time to think even more.)
2007-01-18 13:02:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flint knife.
The ability to quickly skin and divide an animal provided fur and a high protein diet necessary for increased brain development. The improvements in flaking technique both facilitated and were facilitated by intelligence.
2007-01-18 13:59:06 · answer #5 · answered by novangelis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard that eating fish was what developed the brain the most. And since we have opposable thumbs, we could accomplish things. Monkeys have opposable thumbs and toes but I don't think they're big on eating fish or any animal.
Fish oil and the protein is supposed to be great for brain development.
2007-01-18 13:06:01 · answer #6 · answered by strpenta 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, we mutated over the generations and because we survived we got to reproduce...Our hands became more complex with these thumbs and then we were able to manipulate and study things in the world more closely. Then we used our hands to make safer dwellings and sat back and reflected upon the events of our cold and hungry lives... We watched natural fires occur and recreated whatever we could to make and control it (to relieve the pain of excrutiating cold winters). I think that the most instrumental aspect of our exponential evolution was evolution's/god's invention of thumbs.
2007-01-18 13:14:55 · answer #7 · answered by Tabulah Erassa 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Opposable thumbs. When the early ancestors to humans developed opposable thumbs it gave them the versatility to start making tools. It allowed for carrying objects and contributed to the development of fine motor skills, and the making of symbols which were the predecessor to language.
2007-01-18 13:00:18 · answer #8 · answered by smedrik 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The eating of meat was the catalyst for human brain developement
2007-01-18 12:59:52 · answer #9 · answered by Sean 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I think it might have been their basic need to survive. They had to come up with ingenious ways to make surviving possible and easier. They had to be resourceful, using the things available to them. They had to learn what could and couldn't be done without consequence.
2007-01-18 13:02:01 · answer #10 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋