Which was more important to man's evolution?

Question

the thumb or the brain?

Answer 1

Since neither of us were back in the day of mans evolving period to todays strandards. Then I would have to say the thumb. For it served the purpose of scratching ones head while getting this prolonged sense of wanting more.

Answer 2

Of course, people had to jump in here and say "He didn't evolve!" that wasn't the question.

My answer: Probably the brain, since he learned to develop tools to aid in his survival, make clothes, weapons, shelter. Also, his "thumb" hands also played a piviotal point in that survival and evolution.

Answer 3

Cool question... Here's my answer... thumb, brain, thumb, brain....

I guess you want an explanation....

My current belief in the reason why humans have consciousness (and big brains) is because we weren't physically adapted for survival, so we had to consciously adapt. Because our thumbs, and indeed all our fingers, had weak claws, it is more likely that smartest survived, not neccesarily the strongest. So, weak thumb, lead to big brain...

but then again mister thumb bacame important, and evolved to be a delicate mechanism for shaping the thoughts of big brain into real things....

But now, since I sit here typing with three of my four fingers, and my thumbs curl up uselessly in my hands, I am lead to believe that for most of us we could survive alright without thumbs and still play the banjo, etc... and the trigger is pulled by the finger. So we move back into the realm of brain.

thumb brain thumb brain?

Answer 4

The brain. Without it, we wouldn't possess the mental capabilities to make tools and have fine manipulative abilities anyway, not to mention all of the other benefits it offers.

All other primates have opposable thumbs, too. They just don't have our thumb-tip to finger-tip precision grip. however, we have by far the largest brains of any living primate (~1350-1400cc in cranial capacity compared to a chimp's ~450cc).

(Timmy, there are a lot of "midpoints" of evolution in the fossil record, such as Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus. Check out any scientific article on those species to leanr more. )

Jingles, I'm an evolutionary biologist. I know all about the aforementioned species. Have you read the original scientific descriptions of those species in a scientific journal? If not, then you honestly aren't qualified to assess whether they're on the human lineage? The misconception here seems to be in the definition of an ape. According to the Linnean system of binomial nomenclature used by all biologists, humans ARE apes. So, yes, Australopithecus and the early Homo species are apes, but so are we. The real question is whether they are hominins (on our direct lineage), and the evidence from the fossil record (which I have seen with my own eyes-- have you seen these fossils yourself?) indicates that they are.

Answer 5

It is a bit like asking what is more important, the car or the engine.  One cannot work without the other.  The portion of the brain controlling the hands is quite extensive.  Much of our brain is utilized in performing functions that have been practiced multiple times and the brain provides much processing power to provide precision that we needed to make tools as well as perform other necessary jobs.

Answer 6

I still don't see where man evolved. I mean there are no visual facts that show the midprocess of man evolving from one stage to the other. Shouldn't there be some time of midway point between stages. I think that the modern man always existed and killed off the so called stages of evolution. Couldn't that be possible? I guess the brain would be a more sufficient answer.

Answer 7

Timmy Boomstick. Even if you are wrong and I dont think you are far out, you at least think for yourself and swallow none of the horsesh**t being fed to us by the powers that be. Terry H. It's you who should be reading up on the three you mentioned, as they were all Apes, but they stuck Homo in front of their name to make them look the part.

Answer 8

brain

Answer 9

They are dependent on each other.  Hands are important to apes to escape up trees and find food in trees.  The brain of early man may have been different but I doubt it.  It had to be the situations that early man was faced with that changed the brain. Then the hands ability for use became the spur for additional changes. No, I don't think that the hands started the roll but sped it up later on.