The paths we take in life open some doors and close others. But you might be an artist, actor or entrepreneur. If you drop out of college, you probably won't be a brain surgeon, lawyer or Nasa rocket scientist. Your starting point limits your endpoints. The biology of an animal constrains the direction of its evolution. This “dinosauroid” was big-brained with opposable thumbs and walked upright. In the 1980s, palaeontologist Dale Russell proposed a thought experiment in which a carnivorous dinosaur evolved into an intelligent tool user. You could argue creatures like humans were bound to evolve. We've modified half of Earth's land to feed ourselves. By weight, there are more humans than all wild animals.
There are 8 billion Homo sapiens on seven continents. Is humanity just here by chance, or is the evolution of intelligent tool-users inevitable?īrains, tools, language and big social groups make us the planet's dominant species. This might sound like bad science fiction, but it gets at some deep, philosophical questions about evolution.
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