What prevents other animals/species from evolving and developing cognitively the same way humans have?
In: 145
Nothing. But there needs to be a reason that the smarter ones survive and reproduce more than the dumber ones.
For humans, the ones that could figure out fire were able to stay warm and cook food. The ones who were too dumb to figure out fire were cold and hungry. So they died without reproducing.
The ones smart enough to figure out spears were able to hunt bigger game and have more food. More food means you can sustain a larger family. So more kids with the smart genes.
Most animals don’t have a reason to be smart. If you’re already the apex predator in your niche, there’s literally no reason to change anything. That’s why sharks and alligators have remained unchanged for millions of years.
If your kind only die when they get too old (elephants, buffalo, hippos etc), you’re doing really well. You are formidable enough when young to not have issues, so you get to reproduce and that doesn’t really change the gene pool.
There’s not really a reason for most things to evolve right now.
Also, evolution is a slow ass process. Dozens of generations before a meaningful or even noticeable change.
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