What was the turning point in human evolution?

Question

I used to think human origins were explained by meat eating,after all thats what i learned at school. But in a rethinking of conventional wisdom I now think that cooking was the major advance that turned ape into human ... Cooked food is the signature feature of human diet. It not only makes our food safe and easy to eat, but it also grants us large amounts of energy compared to a raw diet. What do you guys think??

Answer 1

When the human ancestor began to walk on two legs. The use of fire is evident only after Homo erectus.

Answer 2

Ask obama the missing link.

Answer 3

You could make a case for that, I'll take it much earlier -- tool making.  While other apes can adapt items into tools, when our ancestors began began shaping objects into tools, intelligence and manual dexterity became the means to gathering the protein required for intelligence and manual dexterity --  positive feedback loop.

I don't think there was any one turning point, but a series of advances that reinforced the trend towards higher intelligence.

Answer 4

The turning point was about 50,000 years ago.  For reasons unknown, there was a "cultural revolution."  You can speculate about a new "creativity gene" spreading quickly in the human species.  Suddenly there was art, and tools got more intricate, ...

Answer 5

The development of language.

The ability to form specific vocalizations, and later written symbols, that represented first *things* (deer, lion, spear), then descriptors ("many deer", "nearby lion", "sharper spear") and eventually abstract concepts ("blue", "hungry", "pretty") led to an almost freakish growth of the cerebral cortex ... the part of the brain we associate with higher thinking.   It allowed us to exchange and pass knowledge not just between members of the same tribe, but down through generations. Hunting skills, weaponry, how to nurture and make fire, etc., all were able to be developed because of language.  (E.g. it is why the discovery of fire lasted longer than the human who first discovered it.)

We would not be human without the invention of language.

Answer 6

In my opinion, it would be the development of the concept of the self.  When early man had that sudden epiphany that went, "_I_ am something different than the "we" of the group," THAT is when we took the great leap ahead of the animals.

The concept of the individual is a great leap in logic - more than just making sure that the group has food and water - that _I_ have enough food and water.

Answer 7

I don't personally think there was "turning point" but if you really wanted to pick out the first "human" characteristic that isolated humans from other mammals I would say the ability to walk on two legs. There are some (few, but some) animals other than the human that are self aware so I wouldn't say that was the turning point.

Answer 8

Cooked food does not give us more energy...or nutrition .  I would argue the opposite; therefore, it is not adventageous evolutionarily.  There may be some safety in fewer microbes after grilling, but this does not make us human.  My bets are on social structure, language, and agriculture.

Answer 9

We are currently witnessing a significant turning point in human evolution---the complete descreditization of the Bush Adminstration.  From this point on, mankind should evolve into a higher plane of life.