That's well said...

Excellent points, things I have been getting my head around in recent months. ie the baby bit. There is an evolutionary advantage in it that pertains to the transfer of knowledge. So much is transferred in DNA, but DNA changes slowly. So by having a big blank brain, higher animals can teach their young. Humans have taken this to a whole new level. We have peaked though. We cannot get much bigger, babies are already born with folding skulls to enable birth, we have maxed out hat option, if women's hips were much wider they would not be able to walk. So, the future will have to be implanted microchips.

@Rugglesby or, we could just start using the Huge areas of our brain that are just sitting there, dormant.

@AnneWimsey Sadly that is a myth that has been perpetuated since the late 19th century. The claim was that we used only 10 % of our brain. If this was the case we could remove 90% of it and be no worse off. We use pretty much all of our brain pretty much all of the time.

That's all theory brother. There's no right answer.

Or only, those who had access to better nutrition and less disease evolved according to their environments such as the animals, plants, and terrain. Evolution isn't static. Our world, our universe, all creation is in a constant state of evolutionary flux.

@BucketlistBob And then there is off-the-wall bullshit.

@Angelface true..

@BucketlistBob Exactly...only conjecture.

We gave up that defense when our smarter brain figured out appearance is more pleasing then hair. Imagine where we would be still climbing trees.

@BucketlistBob If "we gave up that defense" is not logical...it could have caused humans to become extinct. Humans are not well adapted to climbing trees, but that is an example of a poor adaption. Some Baboons are basically terrestrial, not arboreal, but in the event of danger, they can climb trees well enough to escape danger. Humans, on the other hand, are not apparently capable of running up a tree as are baboons...so it is not a matter of where we would be if we could still climb trees, it is a matter of losing the ability to climb them if we had to. Something that very well could have caused our extinction. Also, you are assuming that the reason we are not covered with hair is that hair is less pleasing than not. You are assuming facts not in evidence.

@dahermit creating communities and using our brain has separated us out of the jungle and fields. We gave up that defense means adaptation has changed. Actually... there's no facts pertaining to losing our hair. It's all educated guessing.

@BucketlistBob There are still humans living in the Jungle (Baka) and in fields (Kalahari Bushmen). They live in small bands, no larger than a troop of baboons...evidently, they did not see the need for change/adaptation.

Great answer...

OK!

Any other intelligence living on earth.... hmm?

@BucketlistBob I would say no. We are an awfully fragile species.

Great answer...

Look at papers written by the Monk Mendelson who is considered the father of genetics. He had posted short, tall, mixed heights and then short again. Modern theory states height is not only determined by parents but by hormones, diet, environment but also by more than 700 gene variants. How much of height is determined by genes and how much by diet and environment?

The nose smells bad bacteria and alerts us to possible poison.

@BucketlistBob Quite true. However, it also runs and drips. So, eww.

@KKGator lol..

@BucketlistBob The nose only smells odors, cannot tell bad bacteria from good bacteria.

@BucketlistBob amanita mushrooms look lovely, smell fresh, and are reported to taste wonderful...by those who mentioned it before they died...not a good example, IMO!

Your cool. Not average at all.

You're so sweet Bob. Your wife is a lucky lady.

@sassygirl3869 your so cool Sassygirl... thank you.

A "creation"?

Yes created through evolution!

Great answer...thanks

@BucketlistBob most welcome, thanks for the post, it is something I am fascinated by, so do lots of reading on it when I have time. It is good to get a trigger to make me think again.

@Rugglesby cool..

Cool...

And let's not forget how we need sunscreen despite supposedly evolving under it....or is that just because they invented PABA and needed to unload it?

very true

Cool answer...

I like that answer...

"We are the only species that naturally fouls our living space." Any species kept in close confinement for whatever reason will foul its living space. Aside from that, the next time you are in the habitat of the Mountain Gorillas, look into one of their used nests...most have shit the bed during the night.

When they have had to dig up bodies for whatever reason, the bodies had delayed rapid decomposition for up to five years. Determined by scientists that it was a result of all the chemicals and preservatives in the air, ground, water and thus in our food. It was discovered earlier that a newborn has not only the mother's natural antibodies delivered through the placenta but also the mothers chemical and preservative makeup from the mother's environment.

@dahermit You used a figure of speech literally ... If you maybe read between the lines you may have worked out that I was referring to the fact that we as humans actively have a really destructive effect on our environment, which no other species comes near to matching... We are essentially parasitic in planetary terms. Soooo if you are going to take every statement in life literally then I guess you will be talking about anthropology forever .. suppose I am referring to the fact (say for one example) that astute people may use water filters that now filter out the very low background traces of MDMA and cocaine .. Even hormones pollution from plastics ... I could also refer to the fact that every lifeform in the ocean recently tested without fail was positive for micro plastics which cause cancers in us and them.. Talking about the plastic island in the pacific which is now twice the size of France. It's endless and we all know it.. It wasn't created by goldfish was it ?

@Angelface I do know some stuff about microbiology so understand where you are coming from!! !! Thanks..

@Nickbeee All species have a destructive effect on their environment. They eat the grass until it is gone then move on to better pastures. When they get too many for their environment, they starve (or jump off clifts like Lemmings). Humans are no different.

@Nickbeee I lean more toward genetics and history; they mesh together almost seamlessly. I also live in the Arctic where it is in your face at times.

Cattle shit on the same grass they might, one day eat.

@dahermit Pointless conversation .. you turned a conversation into something with no point .. well done lmfao

@Nickbeee You are welcome.

@dahermit You are senile lol

@Nickbeee What do you expect from an inane foolish comment ("We are the only species that naturally fouls our living space." ) ALL species do that, it is just that some are more mobile than others. Consider ancient hunter-gatherers...it did not matter if they took a dump behind the nearest bush or rock. It only became a problem with permanent settlements. What are you going to say next...that humans are the only species that kill their own kind?

Hmmm... reall sci fi there...lol.

Hmmm... ok. How about your take on genetics. What decided we only needed 2 eyes and 2 ears. What program in our body decided that some of us are smarter then others. Just asking on your friendly feedback?

@BucketlistBob I'm not a geneticist, so I can't give more than a layman's answer to that. I understand that natural selection has meant we, and other species, have evolved into what we are.

I'm not a neuroscientist, either. I don't know by what process the neural networks of relative intelligence are evolving.

I used to be a designer, so I know that the Design Process as we understand it is nothing to do with evolution in the natural sense.

The common factor shared by things that have evolved and things that have been designed is that the result is fitness for purpose.

Rugglesby (below) gave a more satisfactory response to your post, as you acknowledged.

Not everyone has great knee's. Mine are shot along with my hip and back. But I'm lucky.... so many others have a bad bodied and are stuck in bed or a wheelchair. The answer is a monkey. They are the closest to our design. Evolution works in mysterious ways.