Why is our human evolution so unique?

Question

was it our ability to adapt? how is our evolution different than other species?

Answer 1

well, evolution in humans will come to a hault with current technology. What ever happened to survival of the fittest?

Answer 2

I am not sure our evolution IS unique.  I think it is a bit presumptuous for us to think we are 'special'.  Right now, we may look like the lucky ones, but it may not always be that way.  Our vision of life and the universe is extraordinarily, but understandably, parochial, and our vision right now shows how limited we are.

Answer 3

Our particular adaptations are unique. But then, so are the adaptations of all the other organisms. Our biological adaptation did allow us to take advantage of cultural adaptations, which make us seem pretty special most of the time.

Answer 4

Well, we all know we are special just for the things that we do and the things that we feel. I honestly believe that we will have to wait until another non human nor human created intelligence presents its self or is found to honestly have a "sort" of contrast.

All in all its just the "to be" of just being us that makes us or anything special.

Answer 5

Our ability to use tools.

Answer 6

Ahh geez.  I think what you really mean is why were we so 'successful' since we are obviously at the pinnicle of existance in the tree of life?  

Some would argue whether we ARE at the pinnicle, but thats another topic.

What do we judge as success?

Ability to manipulate the environment and make it to our liking.?

Yep we are successful. At least some of us believe so.

But what about the ability to survive for a long time?

Well termites and ants have been around pretty much as they are today and they have been around for tens of millions of years!! Also they actually outnumber us in terms of population They are extremely efficient at using their environment. Just ask a farmer or home owner.

Of course our evolution was unique! But so were all the other critters on this planet the result of a unique evolution.  Was it special, a different process? No. But the inputs to the process were different.

Our evolution wasn't special, it was different.

The process we call evolution resulted in ,what we think of as special, US!

If our ancestors started from a different place in the tree of life, we might have been camels sucking water out of desert sands!  And not be here answering this question.

It is what it is!

And what evolution IS is an explanation of a process. Evolution is NOT a science, it is not an equation, it is not a religion and definately not the final answer to how we got here!

But it is a useful explanation of how we MIGHT have got here without SPECIAL intervention of a GOD.

Of course God may have set the process in motion and let it make us. Now THAT is an interesting topic!

Answer 7

Seen several theories.

1/ it's species-centric to assume anything. Humans MIGHT simiply be the average of the best from the other primates. So we're average not special.

2/ Like rats - the human species' advantage is the ability to survive in almost any environment.

3/ We're the first species to _seriously_ adopt culture as a survival tatic. More than just tool usage & passing it on, it's the overall non-biological advantage that Culture (in general) gives our species.

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Answer 8

In what way unique?

In a way it's not unique  or rather its rather like the joke

"You're unique...just like everyone else.", It's change over generations, through mutation and recombination, This is not to say humanity was inevitable, if you replayed evolution from square one, you're perhaps just as likely to get smart saurians or intelligent bug creatures as some smart monkey.

As far as what made homo-sapiens different from other hominids, that's easy, there are three critical differences.

And I'll mention some examples.

1. Innovative Creativity - From the fossil and archeological record we have identified camps/historical sites associated with homo sapiens (HS) and Neanderthals (HN) (or both).

In the sites which were occupied exclusively by HN, archaeologists have noted that tools from 200,000 years ago look similar to those generated 40,000 years ago, there is change but it very gradual and sometimes retrograde. By contrast in HS, tend to have tools which varied over time and by comparison almost always advanced very quickly, sometimes over just a few generations there are improvements in tools seen, and also an increase in the complexity and USE of tools.

2. Language - its highly probable that HN, was able to have some sort of vocalization, but it's unclear that they would be able to be as verbal as HS, they are much more like other apes than us, and aside from our brains, and hip structure, this sets us apart from other great apes. This allowed us to develop another area of uniqueness.

3. Abstraction - While HN and even some other existing families of great apes have rituals, HS, were really different in that we had a higher capacity for ritualization and this probably means increased ability to be "social". We even see limited amounts of ritualized behavior in other animals (Elephants, dogs, raccoons and dolphins and whales).

Independently these three components are interesting but if you combine them all, and you get the ability to LEARN, and educate , which is probably the biggest difference between us and other intelligent creatures.

The great leap forward, probably was not fire, but language, while animals communicate and apparently do train their young, in some types of oral tradition, (some Birds, Elephants, Whales and many of the great apes) all "train" their young, only occasionally is tool use innovated, although examples exist for all the species mentioned above (whales use certain closed inlets to "herd" prey-animals), Monkeys use certain twigs etc, to fight, build  or gain access to food.

There is even social communication regarding the hierarchy of packs and there exist clans and tribal structures in the animal kingdom.

Through ritualization and abstration, we could communicate to younger tribal members the dangers of hunting, the tricks of getting better food, or warn about some storm outside of the living memory of the younger members.

No other species so far as we know does this to the extent that humans do. This directly impacted our ability to hunt and gather food, which led to more people and a "critical mass" of individuals, where a (probably) simple core of skills and tribal customs were aquired which were flexible enough to allow us to dominate the food-chain in most regions we entered.

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journe...

Notably it was rarely the case there was retrograde tool development but that did occur in human history.

(Tasmanian aboriginals, for instance - lost the ability to make fire because their populations dropped very low, and those who remained and recovered the population did not know or remember how to make fire). By contrast, Polynesian islanders had a common "toolkit" which they took with them from island to island, and only became endangered on VERY isolated islands like Henderson or Easter Islands.

Written language for instance seems to have developed after humans developed that portable skillset, since practically we know of only 3 instances in human pre-history where language was developed and may or may not have spread by word of mouth, (Indoeuropean iconography and later abstrated script, Indochinese iconography, and Pre-Columbian iconography)

Answer 9

It's our big old honking brains.

That includes language and therefore abstract thinking and the ability to pass on what others have learned, even when we can't actually SHOW another person about it.

Our ability to maniuplate our environment (opposable thumbs, fingers that do fine work) are also important.

But it's all about the brains.

For a critter our size, our brains are WAY big.

It's not just our ability to adapt, but to change our environment -- sophisticated tools, shelter, and eventually agriculture.

Also, because our brains are big, we have our young at a more immature age than similar critters.

If we didn't, mothers wouldn't suvive.

Because we're immature, our brains are still developing after birth, much more than other primates, whose brrains are more "done" when they're born.

Because our brains are still developing after we're born, we are able to learn more (like whatever language is spoken around us, and a lot of complex behaviors).

Our life-spans are stretched out in funny ways -- we're immature for a lot of our lives; yet also live longer.

So, again, most of it comes down to the noggin and what it contains, a really big brain.

Answer 10

There is very little unique to humans,

lets see, within mammals:

reduced hair size in our folicles... Pigs

tool use... even Otters use tools

upright walking... done frequently by the proboscis monkey

fatty layer under our skin... Seals

self recognition... Chimpanzees

use of vocalizations... Vervet monkeys

a brain capable of complex gramatical language... Bonobo

forward shifted female genetalia... Elephants

breath control... Crab Eating Macaques

abstract thought and a understanding of space and time... Bonobo

bisexualism... Japaneese Macaques

eccrine sweat glands... Patas Monkey

large head to body ratio... squirrel monkeys

use of pharmeceticals... Chimpanzees again

Oposable thumb... Orangutan

diving reflex... Dolphin

brachiating arms... Gibbons

tailless... Gorilla

culture... capuchin groups develop different traditions

understanding death... Bonobos and Chimpanzees

emotions... Bonobos and chimpanzees

PREMEDITATED MURDER... Elephants and Chimpanzees share this dubious characteristic with us.

What is unique to humans:

acne

back problems

hernias

All that is left to be so proud about...

numerous unique osteological features (foramen magnum, pelvic bone, heels etc)

We still have the largest head to body ratio, sorry squirrel monkeys

The ability to study and understand our own biology

complex vocalizations

elaborate cultures which often war with each other... but even Chimpanzees war with each other so nothing new there.

THE ABILITY TO CAUSE THE EXTINCTION OF THE OTHER MARVELOUS ANIMALS IN OUR WORLD....  

We have this unique ability uncontested

Answer 11

Man, you evolutionist crack me up, oh ye of little faith were is your common sense? Humans are unique and are way more superior to any other animal on this planet, we are dominate. Wake up and smell the coffee of life. Crawl out of your dark caves and into the light! Come on and get realistic, we did not evolve for monkeys no matter how your fairy tale forms your thinking. Your evolutionary assumptions are only right in your minds. We were designed this way, it's all a part of God's plan. Do you people even think about things? It's kinda funny that no other "species" of animal have caught onto modern  civilization. Don't you think if any animal had the ability to catch onto our way of life, at least one of the countless numbers of animals would have by now or is it going to take another billion years? You can teach a dog or monkey new tricks but you can never teach them to build a computer by themselves or an atomic bomb, that's because they were designed to be limited in their thinking. Humans are just one out of a billion different types of animals and none of them  match all our intelligence. Stick with the truth it will that you further than your assumptions.