eli5, what makes humans so advanced compared to other species on Earth?
In: 4
They aren’t. They are exactly as evolved as any other species.
For example, a lettuce can take solar energy and convert it to chemical energy directly, rather than having to hunt food and consume it.
A fish can breathe under water.
A bird can fly.
Many species are stronger than humans, or have a better sense of smell, or can digest grass, and all sorts of other things that we can’t do.
Each species evolves to take advantage of a particular niche, an environment.
We think, therefore, we is.
Look around you my dude. Look in your pocket. Did you find a cell phone? How many species have cell phones.
It’s because we can read and write.
It’s impossible for one person to invent every part of technology which goes into a smartphone, so we learn about batteries and processors and cameras and touchscreens and all the rest, *then* we get a job at Apple and tweak the existing iPhone design to make a new one.
We unlocked a few superpowers in our evolutionary history.
1. Tool use – spears, knives, baskets, etc. this greatly enhanced the physical capabilities of the species. We also had the dexterity to make full use of this, making us as formidable as lions in the savannah and as industrious as birds in building shelter. Corollary to this is we became quite capable of adapting to any habitat, with the aid of cold or warm cloths, footwear, and shelter.
2. Fire – allowed us to outsource digestion. We unlock much more nutrition with cooked food than with raw food, enabling us to direct our calories to other tasks. It also contributed to our ability to adapt to different habitats.
3. Language and community – allowed us to amplify our skills and abilities within a tribe; allowed us to effectively/efficiently pass down our knowledge and wisdom across generations.
The competitive game of evolution is about how well you accrue resources for your species to survive generation after generation. Other organisms for the most part play that game as it’s laid out – fighting for the most minuscule of an edge with each generation. Humans essential cheat at the game with these amplifiers, making us the dominant species on the planet for millennia, and giving us the stability to develop civilization and culture, and later science and technology.
Language/culture
Imagine an experiment where ten of the same animal are locked in a cage (doesn’t matter what animal) and tasked with getting out by completing a puzzle that opens the door. Let’s say they are monkeys – monkey 1 would work this out eventually but then all of the other monkeys would have to do this independently meaning it would take a long time for all ten monkeys to get out.
Conversely, if it were humans, as soon as human 1 works it out they would/could share the solution with all 9 other humans so they could get out of the cage in the same way, much more quickly.
I think of this as the basis of most, if not all, human advancements that distinguish us from other creatures, all the way up to you having the capacity to read this now – wherever you are in the world – and being able to visualise the example through reading of the words and a shared cultural understanding of the concepts involved.
Humans have big brains that allow us to think, remember, and solve problems. Our brains have a special part called the neocortex, which helps us with complex thinking and creativity. This means we can imagine things that don’t exist yet and come up with new ideas.
We have hands with thumbs that can move and grasp things. This gives us fine motor skills, allowing us to build tools, create art, and manipulate objects with precision.
Humans are social creatures. We can communicate using complex languages, which means we can share information, stories, and feelings with each other. This helps us work together, learn from each other, and pass down knowledge from one generation to the next.
We have a curious nature, always asking questions and seeking answers. This has led us to discover and understand the world around us. We have invented things like fire, wheels, and computers, which have helped us survive, travel, and make our lives easier.
Humans are adaptable. We can live in various environments, from freezing cold to scorching hot, and from mountains to deserts. We have developed different cultures, traditions, and ways of living, adapting to our surroundings and creating diverse societies.
Overall, it’s the combination of our big brains, dexterous hands, social abilities, curiosity, and adaptability that make humans so advanced compared to other species. We continue to learn, explore, and invent, making progress and shaping the world around us.
Tag says Biology so…
We are what are called Generalists which means we have adapted to survive a range of conditions and environments allowing homo sapien et al to radiate and establish populations around the world.
Biology usually recognizes equality among species, emphasizing natural selection as a driving force for adaptation and evolution. We may declare ourselves advanced but in most ways biologically, we are not. Human culture as supported through oral and written traditions emerges and allows for critical information and strategies to survive all but the most disastrous catastrophes, but culture and even personhood are not exclusive to humans. At the apex of our culture is our science and the benefits it and evidence may offer which does seem to be special so far but we should welcome all scientists regardless of their domain of origin.
In terms of anatomy, we possess a region of our brain called the Prefrontal Cortex which also seems to be unique, that aids us in long term planning, strategy and the strong emotional responses of the Amygdala.
Since all of our culture, art and language could be erased but isn’t, it is hard to use any human fiction as merit for superiority in the animal kingdom.
Our evolutionary background, using ‘our’ loosely since there is no single consenus dna sequence that can describe all of us; is quite varied including multiple species’ contributions including genes from Neanderthal and Denisovan introgressions.
I was trained to avoid the ‘advanced’ or ‘superior’ adjectives in regards to any species as we and all life are constantly being shaped by our environment. Beware the homo progression that shows us at the end of a line of older upright or tool making ancestors. We, like all life, are special and precious.
Humans have a huge brain that allows them to have advanced thinking processes and also can transmit knowledge to the next generation. They also have the right tools (hands) to perform a wide range of precision tasks.
All other species lack at least one of these properties to a decisive degree.
Ever heard of an ape/chimp intentionally jumping out of tree to their death?
By evolution, humans are essentially an all-or-nothing gamble on these big brains of ours, more so than any other animal on earth, though there are plenty of others who have advanced and complicated brains, and use them to great effect.
It is important to understand that intelligence *has a cost*, and that cost is in energy and diet: You need a lot of fats in your diet to make a fancy brain, and it consumes a pretty significant amount of energy to operate.
Herbivores would be a bad fit for an advanced brain like ours, because their source of food doesn’t really require smarts to pursue (Grass doesn’t put up much chase or require complicated hunting tactics) , and doesn’t provide the requisite ingredients to grow and maintain a brain in large amounts. This did not stop cows and horses from becoming *social animals*, interestingly, so clearly they’re managing it reasonably well, but it wouldn’t have worked for us.
So humans went more extreme on the brains than anything else, and adjusted our diets to match: Lots of the animals I listed also have very specialized digestive systems, to get the absolute most out of the food they eat, heavily specializing in efficient stomachs, sometimes several of them. We don’t have this, or the highly acidic stomachs of vultures that make them good at eating rancid carrion, or many other narrow specializations: Instead, we’re adapted as generalists, able to eat *almost* anything, including a lot of plants that are toxic even to other omnivores (dogs being allergic to beans like chocolate, but not humans is a widely known example).
Why adapt as generalists? Because it means that when we use our huge brains to gain access to a new source of food, odds are high we can make the time and effort worth it. Our brains are really good at giving us access to new, weird food sources through clever means: You wanna dive underwater and scrounge up as many mollusks and crescateans from the bottom of the ocean as you can grab while holding your breath? Sure, we can probably digest most of those. You’ll have to use your huge brain to do some trial-and-error and learn which ones are poisonous, but you’ll eventually figure it out. Wanna dig up random plants and start gnawing on roots until you find a tasty one? You don’t have big paws or claws to help you do that, but you got your big brain to make a makeshift shovel, so you can manage it, and you can probably digest those safely too. Gonna try to throw rocks at birds to kill and eat them? Have at it, your stomach is ready to make the most out of them, and your hand-to-eye coordination is *almost* good enough to make the shot!
Humans are adapted to *experiment* and *figure out what works* on a case-by-case basis, and that is a big evolutionary gamble. Sure, most of our ancestors (and the things we are specialized to do) hunted by chasing prey to exhaustion, essentially a violent cross-country jog with an antelope, but we evolved a very keen mind to seek out ways to *supplement* those adaptations with alternate sources of food that eventually started overshadowing our main gig, though we never lost those long-running adaptations.
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