Re:No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk
by im3w1l on Thursday October 17, 2019 @12:22AM
(#21278881)
If we consider other hominids, we don't know exactly, but it seems we outcompeted them. If we consider more distant animals, because we converted the entire planet to provide for us much faster than they could evolve to catch up with us.
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However, the pressure has to have been exerted before humans outcompeted other hominids. This might seem too obvious, but you can't have an effect preceding its cause.
Re:No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk
by hyperpallium on Thursday October 17, 2019 @12:26AM
(#21278902)
I think that's the "we just happened to be first" argument. Which could be true, but not very satisfying, because no detail.
We didn't have to be first. Other primates might have picked up the rock before we did, but eventually lost the race. Maybe the fire-cooking, rock-throwing domesticating niche is just that competitive.
So it might be more like "we are the ones that remain", but yeah, either variant is a spin on the old weak anthropic principle, which is never quite satisfying.
Re:No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk
by hyperpallium on Thursday October 17, 2019 @07:50AM
(#21281007)
And we do seem to have wiped out/outcompeted Neanderthals etc.
> fire-cooking, rock-throwing domesticating niche
Just knowing if that was the evolutionary pressure along the path would be enough for me (even if it could have been another ape or a corvid or whatever - or maybe they are on that path now?)
BTW Matt Ridley has the theory that division of labour (trade enabling specialization) was the gradient.
Re:No One Knows Why Humans Can Walk
by GarrisonPrime on Thursday October 17, 2019 @01:02AM
(#21279055)
Just because there's no detail, or it's not satisfying, doesn't mean it's less likely.