Why did intelligence take so long to evolve?

Yitzhak Rabin

Over the course of paleo-history we have seen the same niches evolve over and over again... for example you have the ichtyosaurs & dolphins, who are remarkably similar, yet are completely unrelated:





Almost every time an ancient extinct creature is described it is described to "be like a modern day..."

It seems time and time again the same roles are adopted by completely unrelated creatures. Mammals like the elephant occupy the niche of gigantic plant-eater like the ancient giant vegatarian dinosaurs before.


So my question is, why has intelligence never evolved as a biological niche until the very recent past?

looksee

How can you be sure that it hasn't?

gbee

Not sure if the total destruction of the planet's surface was responsible and the other global extinction events had anything to do with it, but life has been kicked back on this planet more than once.

Animal who spent millions of years developing on land after crawling from the sea, ventured back again as the land became hostile to life.

cavedave

It is a very good question.

Here are some possible answers
1. Anthropic principle the fact we can ask the question might be some of the answer. If dolphins had evolved intelligence they would have made damn sure we would not have eaten them with tuna. and they would be asking "why did monkeys never learn to make nets"

2. The Fermi paradox is related to this. Why aren't the stars full of aliens? possibly the same reason the world did not have an intelligent species before now. This is the great filter theory that there are several stages a species has to survive to become an intergalactic. We have passed many but only just. A nuclear exchange here a slightly more powerful church there, a slightly more virulent plague etc and we would not have a world where we would know enough astronomy or evolution to ask the question

3. Species live on average 3-4 million years. Humans have not been around that long and at a 3% annual growth rate it is hard to imagine they will be. Maybe intelligence just is not that useful a tool for survival

4. Maybe they did. Related to three. If the dinosaurs had gotten to roughly our level 65 million years ago we would not know. the 200+ years of industrialisation and 5000+ years of civilisation would not be obvious at this time distance. Maybe we should look for dinos on the moon

Capt'n Midnight

Does intelligence improve a species survival ?

Yes we are the only species potentially capable of stopping a planet killer asteroid, but we've only been around globally for a blink of an eye.


One theory why marsupials have smaller brains is that Oz is a tough place to live and brains need a lot of enegery and high quality diet. But there is an old saying that in the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king, and with the high cost of maintaining a brain you only need to be smarter than your prey or competitors to survive. That old myth about using just 10% of our brains is just that.


IIRC the brightest Dinosaurs had brains that were comparable to birds, and I don't mean parrots or crows.

cavedave

Capt'n Midnight


Does intelligence improve a species survival ?

Yes we are the only species potentially capable of stopping a planet killer asteroid, but we've only been around globally for a blink of an eye.

But cockroaches and bacteria would survive even if a asteroid hits. Also bacteria are flung into intersteller space regularly. They have made it to the moon, mars and venus well before we have.

Dan_Solo

I was always crap at quotations, but I think it was Wittgenstein who said something like "if a lion could speak you would not be able to understand it". Perhaps all animals have intelligence to different degrees, but the nature of that intelligence isn't really comparable to ours.
As Douglas Adams said, dolphins probably think they're the greatest species on earth as the swim and play all day.

the culture of deference

We also have found amino acids on meteors from other planets.

Capt'n Midnight

the culture of deference wrote: »

We also have found amino acids on meteors from other planets.

Given the right conditions it's probable that some form of self replicating molecules will arise given starting conditions of simple bio molecules which have produced inorganically.

But the big question is how likely is it for photosynthesis to evolve , or at least some renewable lifestyle after the primordial soup has been finished.

Morbert

High intelligence is rarely advantageous. A large brain requires huge amounts of resources that could be invested in other survival strategies like powerful jaws or swift legs.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Our body-shape and other features encouraged intelligence. Even if a dolphin were to gain the develop a level of intellect approaching that of early humans, he'd never be able to make tools or construct dwellings.

Capt'n Midnight

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Even if a dolphin were to gain the develop a level of intellect approaching that of early humans, he'd never be able to make tools or construct dwellings.

You see, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.
Douglas Adams

SecurityGuy

Morbert wrote: »

High intelligence is rarely advantageous. A large brain requires huge amounts of resources that could be invested in other survival strategies like powerful jaws or swift legs.

Right, even if you look at our society you can confirm this - educated, highly intelligent people rarely have more than 2 children while knackers in pyjamas living animal lives reproduce like rabbits.

krd

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

But the big question is how likely is it for photosynthesis to evolve , or at least some renewable lifestyle after the primordial soup has been finished.

It may evolve in the primordial soup.

I saw these Jelly fish on a nature program recently. They have algae in their gut. They take themselves to the waters surface, the algae photosynthesises, and they feed off the algae by-products.


Photosynthesis, is probably not that difficult to evolve. There's just so much light around. Photo-sensitivity is probably something that evolved very early on. There's just so much light. Organisms have to be sensitive to it in one way or another.

What always stuns me, is how so many organism are sensitive to the cycle of the moon.

Capt'n Midnight

krd wrote: »

What always stuns me, is how so many organism are sensitive to the cycle of the moon.

for marine animals like barnacles that don't move it's a handy way to synchronise mating time so all the off spring are released at the same time so that preditors can't gobble them all up

also for marine animals there is the link between tides and the moon, some want high tides to get further up the beach , others may like lower tides as the waves may be smaller

krd

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

for marine animals like barnacles that don't move it's a handy way to synchronise mating time so all the off spring are released at the same time so that preditors can't gobble them all up

also for marine animals there is the link between tides and the moon, some want high tides to get further up the beach , others may like lower tides as the waves may be smaller

Yes........but.....and I know this is known....and this is the marvel......how do such simple creatures know there is a full moon.

How do plants know what time of the year it is. These questions on the surface look so simple, but they're not.

Capt'n Midnight

Single celled photosynthetic organisms like euglena have an eye spot and can swim towards the light.

More complex organisms could have more complex behaviour.

Many organisms react to changes in temperature, in the UK spring moves north at about 3mph. So the changes that take place in Scotland happen a few weeks after they happen in Cornwall.