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How did humans bacome so smart and learn all the
technology? Could sheep or some other type of bacome smart
and invent new technology? If you acustume a type of
nonhuman animal to what humans do could they just act like a
Human Are there Homo Erectus or one of those types of
Human presently on Earth?
Answer 1:
You asked some great questions! Here are my answers.
1. How did humans become so smart and learn all the technology?
This is actually a complicated question. The way humans became
smart was most likely the same way all animals change over time.
We evolved into smarter and smarter animals because something
about our environment encouraged us to be smarter. What I mean
is that, because of who we were and how we interacted with our
environment, we were more successful as a species when we
used our intelligence. So, people who did smarter things lived better
lives, and had more children. Since the smart people were having
more smart children, the overall population was made up of more
and more smart people...before you know it, we had evolved into a
smarter species! This is how evolution works--in the expression
"survival of the fittest," survival actually means survival of the whole
species, not an individual like you or me. Also, "fittest" doesn't mean
strongest, it means best suited to his or her environment. For some
reason, being smart made us more "fit" for our environment, so we
gradually changed into smarter and smarter creatures. For other
animals, though, things other than intelligence were more important
for making them fit for their environment. For example, Cheetahs
are more successful if they're fast, not smart, and Birds of Paradise
are more successful if the males have beautiful tail feathers to
attract mates more easily. So it's not all about being strong! As for
the technology, I think that naturally followed from our intelligence
and the fact that we have such useful hands. Our brains helped us
figure out better and better ways to do things, and our hands are
versatile enough that we can actually build things that make our
ideas work. So, instead of huddling around a fire and shouting to
your friends at the neighbor's fire, you can put on warm clothes,
turn on the heater, and call your friends on the telephone! Wow, that
was a long answer (but I think that means it was a good question.)
Could sheep or some other type of become smart and invent new
technology?
This might become possible, but it would depend on many things.
For sheep, the answer is probably no. Sheep have evolved into
animals that don't need to be very smart to survive. A totally new
environment, with different food sources and different hunters and
different competitors would be required to change that. This new
environment would have to be so different that I don't think it would
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environment would have to be so different that I don't think it would
ever actually exist. This might be different for other animals, though.
Dolphins and whales seem to be extremely smart already.
Some people think that if they only had thumbs, they might actually
have civilizations and technologies as complex as ours. Apes (like
Gorillas, Orangutans, and Chimpanzees) are also extremely
smart...and they do have thumbs! I think that if humans didn't exist,
these Apes would evolve into creatures as smart and capable as
we are. Scientists are discovering more and more animals that are
much smarter than we once thought. Parrots, for example, can
score as high as some three-year-old humans on some intelligence
tests! (That makes me think twice about keeping them in cages!)
But, it would be very hard for them to invent something as complex
as a car, for example, without hands to build and use tools. If you're
around in a million years, though, check out the Apes to see how
they're doing!
If you accustom a type of nonhuman animal to what humans do,
could they just act like a Human?
In many cases, the answer to this question is yes. Chimpanzees
can paint and draw and play simple video games, seeing eye dogs
can learn to "read" crosswalk signs so they know when it's safe to
cross a street, and I've heard of pet cats than can open doors and
turn on lights. Many of the more complicated things we do, though,
are probably beyond most animals' capabilities. Most animals
wouldn't understand the need to drive a car or bake muffins, and
these activities are very different from their normal activities, so it
would be almost impossible to teach them to do these things. Like
in the last question, though, Apes might be an exception.
There's probably very little that humans do that Apes couldn't learn
to do.
This is one reason why it's so sad that many of them are so
endangered!
Are there Homo Erectus or one of those types of Human presently
on Earth?
Basically, my answer is no, not really, but it's actually a little more
complicated than that. What complicates this issue is the fact that
nobody can agree on what happened to Neanderthals. (Have you
heard of Neanderthals?
They were primitive humans who lived in Europe until about 35,000
years ago.) Some scientists argue that Homo neanderthalensis (the
scientific name for Neanderthals) went extinct after Homo sapiens
(that's who we are today) appeared on the scene, but other
scientists argue that Neanderthals and modern humans lived
together and m
Answer 2:
Humans aren't the only animal that makes and uses tools.
Numerous other apes, especially chimpanzes,have been known to
create rods for catching termites from a nest by taking a stick and
stripping off all of the leaves. Sea otters have been known to
choose and fashion stones with which to smash open shells of
clams, and octopus sometimes jam pebbles into the shells of
clams to prevent them from closing.
There are many theories for the evolution of intelligence in humans,
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There are many theories for the evolution of intelligence in humans,
but when intelligence in animals is examined, a number of trends
appear:
1. Carnivores tend to be more intelligent than herbivores.
Intelligence is probably needed to stalk and chase prey rather than
to just eat it growing on the ground.
2. Animals that feed off of variable food sources,like scavengers,
tend to be intelligent.
3. Animals with relatively developed sensory mechanisms need
intelligence to comprehend those senses.
4. Animals that have a large number of appendages that can be
used to manipulate objects tend to be especially intelligent.
5. Animals that care for their young tend to be intelligent.
Humans, in walking on two legs instead of four, freed up their
forelimbs into arms, and fingers are excellent manipulatory tools.
Being mammals, humans need to take care of their young at least
for a while(since mothers produce milk for their offspring). Lastly,
humans were in the past omnivorous animals:
eating meat when they caught it, and padding out their diet with
fruits, nuts, and various other plant products. Thus, it would be
reasonable to expect that humans would be fairly intelligent
animals, having at least three of the five points that listed above.
The most important evolutionary step for humans,however, was
probably communication by language. Other animals communicate,
either by sound, gesture, smell,or touch. However, humans alone
are capable of creating a new sound (a new word) to identify
something that has not been seen before. Because of this, a
human can speak to another human about something which is not
present to be pointed to or talked about; in fact, they need not have
ever even seen what they are talking about! The ability to have
technology, I think, is dependent upon this: because we can
communicate abstract concepts through language,we can build
upon the ideas of others.
Could sheep or some other type of become smart and invent new
technology?
In theory, yes. However, sheep are herbivores, they are not
opportunistic, and they have no fingers to manipulate anything. As it
turns out, sheep are among the less intelligent of mammals. That
being said, I can thing of other animals - bears, wolves,
crows,squids, octopuses, etc. that could possibly become able to
invent technology.
If you accustom a type of nonhuman animal to what humans do,
could they just act like a Human ?
Part of the reason why humans behave the ways that they do is
learned. Other parts of that reason is that humans have instincts.
Other animals also have instincts, and those instincts are not
always the same. So, yes and no.
Are there Homo Erectus or one of those types of Human presently
on Earth?
The only species of human presently living on Earth is Homo
sapiens. All other species of Homo are extinc -however, new ones
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sapiens. All other species of Homo are extinc -however, new ones
may evolve from us.
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