(August 18, 2012 at 1:07 pm)apophenia Wrote: Another aspect that I've heard, but don't have exact details on, happened somewhere in the 2-6 Mya time frame. During that time, Africa was undergoing significant climate instability, and the constant abrupt changes in climate served as a sieve for selecting out the most intelligent of the species.
It is not apparent to me how intelligence manifests itself in a primitive population of hominids. The kind of intelligence we mean in the modern world - cleverness at school, thrusting ambition at work - surely needs the framework of developed societies to become visible. The climate change in ancient Africa would seem to me more a sieve for selecting the physically hardiest members of a species.
We may never know but it is fascinating to speculate.
Regards
Grimesy
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. — Edward Gibbon
