I have a lot of questions (anyone who knows me well is aware of this.)  I am fascinated with the past civilizations.  Not only the material culture, but wanting to get into their heads. What did they know? How did they feel?  Did they have the same feelings as I do today? The one thing that I wish scientists could invent would be the time machine.  But, unfortunately, that would defy the laws of space and time. Well, the laws as we understand them now....wishing......hoping

So to go way back into the past, how did human higher intelligence arise in the first place?  A million dollar question (in this economy I would say is a trillion dollar question).  Is there a way or enough evidence left to find out?  I have just read a very interesting hypothesis on this matter and it has all to do with culture. We are not the only animals with culture, our close relatives, the orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos have it too.  Culture is learned and passed down.  These primates make tools, teach their young to make tools, and so on through the generations.  Culture.  The most intelligent animals seem to be the ones with social and cultural ties.  Could this be a coincidence? The ability to learn within each species is relatively the same, but having the social groups to learn skills from would be a significant evolutionary advantage. Each innovation could be learned and passed down through the group.  Primate offspring spend longer periods of time with their parents than many other animals.  Longer time to learn from the adults.  Primate groups in captivity can learn even more than in the wild from observing human behavior.  Some apes like Kanzi the bonobo seem to have the ability understand human language. (Check out the youtube videos of Kanzi) The brain capacity is there. Learning through observation increases intelligence.  So, I think an interesting hypothetical scenario to explain human advanced intelligence would be cultural learning coupled with say a mutation in one regulatory gene in our ancestor that prolonged brain cell division during development.  Bigger brain + culture =modern human intelligence.

Just food for thought! 

Nicki