NP, so long as you are willing to be more specific.Quote:
Originally Posted by vidcc
It's a bit nebulous just now.
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NP, so long as you are willing to be more specific.Quote:
Originally Posted by vidcc
It's a bit nebulous just now.
wasn't really what i meant, i was thinking along the lines of if an asteroid hit tomorrow and killed us all, the next intelligent species that came along (assuming a gap of several million years) might very well think they were the first intelligent species as there would be little evidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by vidccA good point which I hadn't taken into account in this thread. And I should be ashamed as a fan of the hitchhikers guide:( It's entirely possible that other animals are as smart or smarter and we are not smart enough to realise it.:shifty: I had a hard enough time suggesting that other animals have any intelligence at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by ilw
Can we all agree then that humans are special, even if we disagree on certain aspects of what is so special about them.
Can we also try to agree that other animals are special in other ways and on other levels.
Thats the extreme scenario,but it may very well be, that there have been other very smart creatures in the past, but for whatever reason brains didn't give them the evolutionary edge that it apparently gave us. I remember reading somewhere that homo sapiens very almost died out during the ice age (better hunting due to brains vs the extra energy demand and child birth problems) and if that had happened the next intelligent species would have been in a similar position to us now in thinking they were the first
edit: homo sapiens or cro magnons in ice age? can't be bothered to check
Obviously I'm not going to say that didn't happen. However without any evidence that is did happen it's at best conjecture. Indeed it's far from certain that another species would evolve the large brain.Quote:
Originally Posted by ilw
As I understand it it's not just the size of the brain which is important. It's how much of the capacity is needed to run the body. Higher level stuff comes from the extra capacity. So we have a brain capacity way larger than what is needed to actually keep the body ticking over. Doing the breathing and stuff.
Or perhaps they wouldn't have the capacity to think along those lines at all....Quote:
Originally Posted by ilwwasn't really what i meant, i was thinking along the lines of if an asteroid hit tomorrow and killed us all, the next intelligent species that came along (assuming a gap of several million years) might very well think they were the first intelligent species as there would be little evidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by vidcc
neanderthals were supposed to be fairly intelligent and technically they were a different species
Based on a 2001 Oxford University study, some commentators speculated that Neanderthals had red hair, and that some red-headed and freckled humans today share some genetic heritage with Neanderthals.Quote:
Originally Posted by ilw
The highest proportion of redheads is found in Scotland where 13% of the population has red hair. :whistling
The 'red heads' stopped the mighty Roman legions in their tracks.:rolleyes: That is why, up till about a hundred years ago we were unique. Just wait till we catch up on this new sport called football. We will show you what's what.:lol:
Meanwhile, you can just keep playing that game where you hit a ball with a stick and lose it down a hole.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigboab
There's a game for neanderthal's if I ever saw one.:whistling
snooker? :blink:
A wonder who invented that game. Along with a few more. Incidentally I dont play golf anymore. Why should I pay £500 a year to get less hits at the ball than everybody else.
Ava - Most of the red heads in Scotland originated in Ireland.:rolleyes: