Evolution of Intelligence

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“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought” but when were these first intelligent thoughts thought? Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. But intelligence has evolved from the past. The innovation of fire furthered to the light bulb, as the hut became the skyscraper. This topic is worthy to investigate because modern humans have advanced so greatly, but how exactly had our genius evolved and where did our intelligence start. How are the intelligence of early humans different from that of modern humans, and what inferences can be made from this data?
What is intelligence exactly? Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills or “the ability to learn and understand things to deal with new or difficult situations” (Merriam-Webster 1). There are many types of intelligence in the human being - naturalist, musical, logical-mathematical, existential, interpersonal intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, intrapersonal, and spatial intelligence (Gardener 1). Although early humans did not have all of these kinds of intelligence, slowly from hominin to hominin, it evolved in to the modern human we are now.
First of all, the cranium capacities differed per early human. In ascending order, from their time period of existence, Australopithecines have 500 to 515 cm3 cranial capacities, Homo habilis have a brain capacity was 509 to 752 cm3, Homo erectus have 750 - 1250 cm3, Homo heidelbergensis had brain capacities of 1100 - 1390 cm3, Neanderthals had 1200 - 1750 cm3, while modern day humans have 900 - 1880 cm3 cranial capacities (anthro.palamar 3). This difference in the cranial capacity doesn’t show the intelligence directly of these early humans but it shows the root l...

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Overall the early humans had a lesser intelligence in all known aspects, but since the first hominin and start of the human intelligence, our knowledge capacity has been increasing steadily. The evolution of intelligence is evident in this new technological and digital age now. The Homo sapiens are becoming a more and more intelligence species and will eventually make even greater strides and strive towards perfection.

Works Cited

http://anthro.palomar.edu/Homo2/mod_Homo_2.htm http://mentalfloss.com/article/49852/6-weird-theories-early-human-intelligence http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intelligence http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm http://discovermagazine.com/1997/apr/andaoneandauhuh1108 http://www.taneter.org/math.html http://www.infoplease.com/dk/encyclopedia/first-modern-humans.html

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