pagetheoracle Posted December 14, 2014 Report Posted December 14, 2014 Is man intelligent because he has a big brain or did his body form (bipedal / opposable thumb) allow him to explore the world and create within it, allowing his mind to grow through experience? Quote
sman Posted December 14, 2014 Report Posted December 14, 2014 A man has experience, but man - a population of inter-breeding humans - does not. Evolution operates on the latter, not the former. Quote
CraigD Posted December 14, 2014 Report Posted December 14, 2014 Is man intelligent because he has a big brain or did his body form (bipedal / opposable thumb) allow him to explore the world and create within it, allowing his mind to grow through experience?I think you commit a false dichotomy with this statement, Page – humans are as we are – beyond reasonable challenge more intelligent than any other species on Earth - because of many factors, among them large brains, bipedalism, and opposable thumbs. Another important trait that I think it too often overlooked the extraordinary – among primates – vocal precision and versatility of humans. This may in turn be due to the anatomical change to the human trachea and larynx that occurred when we became full-time bipeds. This theory is, to the best of my knowledge, still speculative, with little fossil or other physical data to support it, but I’ve long found it an enticing one – see this 2005, this 2007, and this 2007 post for more from me on this. Quote
pgrmdave Posted December 15, 2014 Report Posted December 15, 2014 Is man intelligent because he has a big brain or did his body form (bipedal / opposable thumb) allow him to explore the world and create within it, allowing his mind to grow through experience?Are you asking whether cranial size increased prior to bipedalism? The thumb seems to have come before both, and brains came before bipedalism according to the Smithsonian:http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Pretty easy question to answer with a google search. CraigD 1 Quote
pagetheoracle Posted December 16, 2014 Author Report Posted December 16, 2014 Well there you are then Are you asking whether cranial size increased prior to bipedalism? The thumb seems to have come before both, and brains came before bipedalism according to the Smithsonian:http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactivePretty easy question to answer with a google search. Well there you are then - maybe I should have kept my big mouth, tiny mind and opposable thumb from idle questioning! Quote
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