Why was it humans that experienced the coincidence of becoming the dominant life form?

Question

To be more specific, literally why did humans end up being so lucky and being able to become the dominant life form? If it wasn't a coincidence, what made it rather obvious?
This is a general question, I suppose, so give your opinion and facts as well.
Thanks, everyone!

Just to clear a little something up, I meant dominant as is "supreme race", not as in "there are more humans than anything else", kind of a thing.

Answer 1

In most measurable aspects of biology, bacteria and even beetles are far more dominant than humans. Nevertheless, H. sapiens have enjoyed a great deal of success in occupying a variety of ecosystems and in systematically eliminating ecological competitors. The secret of our success is really not much of a secret, it is the evolution of our intellect that has given our species that advantage. Whether our intellect will provide the long term continued success of our species or lead to our extinction is an open question (remember that in biology, long term success may be measured in millions of years as well as the number of descendant species produced).

Answer 2

What do you mean by coincidence? Like, why did they end up so lucky and being able to become the dominant life form? Why is it a coincidence?

Well, I would think that the ability to use tools, make them and think logically would have been the reasons behind the human dominance. However, if you would care, not many animals are logical or use tools. So I guess, it is a unique human characteristic.

Answer 3

As you stated in your question, we are the lucky ones. I believe in survival of the luckiest, not the fittest. After all, it is luck that a species survives. For example, if a bird is born with longer tail feathers and allows it to have a more stable flight pattern, it is lucky to mate and pass on its genes. There are so many circumstances that being the fittest wont help you out. A hunter could easily take the bird out before it mates. It could get infected with bird flu before it mates. It could have an accident so it can't mate. The luckiest, not the meek, will inherit the earth. It is luck that a superflu hasn't come around yet and wiped out the human race. It is luck that we haven't gotten hit by an asteroid.

Answer 4

This sounds more like a Religion and Spirituality question to me. There are a TON of Qs like this in R&S!!!

One's on top. That's how things work. Either it's creation or evolution or aliens with a human-ant farm...whatever caused humans to be the top species, it happened. Every habitat has its own top species. Survival of the fittest, that kinda thing.

Like, say, bears are often the top species if humans aren't around. They're big, super-strong, they got those crazy claws that can tear your a ss up...sure, they're gonna win any fight. Unless they're up against a weak, puny human with a gun. Then...the human has a much better chance of winning.

Humans aren't particularly strong if you put them up against, say, a giant crocodile. But we're smart (some of us actually are, despite the stupidity you see on Yahoo Answers displayed in all its idiotic glory) and we can communicate and plan stuff out, so we win.

It's just how the world works, yo. Darwin and sh!t.

Answer 5

Well, the idea that human are the dominant life form is itself largely a question of perspective. How are we the dominant life form in a way that, say, krill or water-bears are not?

But I get your point: how did our evident pre-eminence over other species in terms of capacity to reorganize the environment arise.

I think several factors, or rather, their combined effect, are the cause of this:

--opposable thumbs
--high brain-to-body mass ratio
--bipedal locomotion for quadrupedal animal
--long post-birth development cycle
but undoubtedly most important of all:
--neuroanatomical capacity for symbolic reasoning, abstract analytic cognition, and spatial conceptualization of absent phenomena

Answer 6

i do no longer think of it extremely is authentic that neuroscientists won't be able to clarify how persons have conscious studies. Sensorial studies and their emotional and cognitive consequences could be defined neuroscientifically, and debates persist approximately no count if understanding is truthfully volitional and cut loose psychoneurodynamic methods or no longer. understanding, cognition, memory, habit, and character are mediated via shifting and dynamic neuroelectrochemical structures interior the techniques which could transform if some thing happens that incites an intensive replace in techniques chemistry (like an ailment, actual harm, psychological trauma, toxicosis, or religious or altered-state adventure.) technological know-how aside, it extremely is my fact as an prolonged-time religious practitioner, that maximum everyone isn't conscious or somewhat volitional yet act and react in terms of conditioning. while people communicate approximately having finished understanding or enlightenment studies, they are conversing approximately dramatic paradigm shifts in neurochemistry such that the neurological varieties of the old self are scrapped and a clean self, arranged to be newly conditioned--possibly greater volitionally (ie, they are able to invent themselves somewhat than have nature and nuture gain this, as is the destiny of babies)--by new, neural pathways. Edit: i could upload that a guy or woman has a conscious adventure, satirically, yet *no longer* thinking yet watching and being thoroughly open to the contemporary 2nd. thinking truthfully impedes understanding by way of fact it extremely is loaded with conditioned responses.

Answer 7

Like the person who answered above, how can you say that we are the most dominant life form?

I would say prokaryotes are the most dominant lifeform, seeing as they are the most abundant lifeforms on this planet.

Answer 8

Would you rather have the elephants be the dominant specie or some other animal.

Answer 9

Humans have dominion over the earth because that was God's plan. The bible explains it all quite nicely. "Luck" had nothing to do with it.

Answer 10

standing upright, opposable thumbs
larger brains, fire, tool use

those mostly