Evolution - intelligence, what species would be next

If humans were or were not on earth.. what current species shows the most potential to evolve to a point of development of intelligence and technology? Say a few thousand or million years..





[edit on 7-5-2006 by md1978]

Pigs probably apparently they are pretty smart. However, for some reason i think having hands is an important thing to have to develope intelegence. Using tools i think helps develope the brain, of course i could be wrong.

Pigs don't stand a chance, they lack the fine motor skills, and unless they started walking on two legs and sprouting thumbs, it's unlikely they would be a candidate for dominant species. Even then...

We're talking bipedal bacon...

I think the octopus and the elephant are the two best candidates. The tentacles and trunk respectively have a great deal of manual dexterity, and the mind behind the limbs is keen in both cases. Given enough time, both could dominate their respective environments.

I'm rooting for the octopi, personally...

The flesh of humans is very similar to the flesh of pigs, so in a sense we humans are like bipedal bacon. Also, remember, we're talking around a million years here, I think those pigs would be evolved differently. Who knows, though. I honestly think the chimpanzee would evolve the most. The chimp is very human-like, and would probably evolve into something very similar to humans, another humanoid.

I saw a documentary here a while back that squid would be the most likely to evolve

I think a kangaroo would seem cool if it evolved further

You have to consider that man evolved from stupid little monkeys, that, if you had looked at the world, might not be the sort of thing you'd mark for greatness. Primates have 'bigger brains', but only because they were originally noctural and also needed to clamber about tree-limbs (a complex environment), so their sight processing centers were more developed.

When man was on the ground, and had his hands free from locomotion, he was able to use them to make tools. Tools meant more effective hunting, more food, and thus any human with a slightly more developed brain could benefit, by getting even more food, and also by having enough calories to support the 'expensive' brain.

So its dificult to predict. Apes use tools, even if its just a stick to prod a tree for termites with. Some birds also make use of tools on a roughly similar level. So I'd think that you'd need that first. The octopus has well developed sight, and thus a larger brain than expected (they even have 'giant' axons, enourmous nerve cells (doens't make them smarter though)), and I recall that they are 'smart' enough to unscrew a jar lid to get at food inside.

Then again, dolphins and whales have large brains, in part because of their use of echolocation, which requires a lot of processing power. Difficult to see how they'd be able to make use of tools though.

What do people think the ultimate evolution experience may be then? Are we pretty much spent out evolution wise? By this I mean only the strongest survived, their individual and unique characteristics were passed onto their young. Survival of the fittest is pretty much over.

I once read the ultimate goal of evolution is to reach a pure energy composure. We seem to be lingering in an age where medicines and health care keeps the unfit to multiply (no offence intended) and our brains seem to have been our evolutionary downfall. If there was a human race and animals around in a few million years I would love to see how things may have changed.

The thing I find interesting is that there are records of beached whales with sucker marks a few feet wide on their carcass. If this is true, then there may already be very intelligent cephalopods living at extreme depths. If they get more intelligent the larger they get, then there could already be creatures with more advanced intelligence than us.

Using tools is a sign of intelligence, but is not necessarily required to show intelligence. If a creature is in an environment where tools aren't necessary, then they could spend their time developing intelligence of a different kind, while still being self aware and cognizent of their surroundings.

Maybe they have an avanced society down there and don't believe that we exist because they've never seen us. Or they know we exist, and that why they avoid us.

I think Chimpanzees are next in line. Although that will probably not happen as long as Humans are still around. Remember that homo (genus) only fully broke away from Chimps and have had a separate evolutionary track for only about 7 million years (questionable). So they are not really that far behind us.

Maybe beavers. I dunno, it's hard to say.


[edit on 8/5/2006 by SportyMB]

I don't think any species would rise to any sort of prominence or dominance over the others, even through evolution. I think there is a balance to nature and without humans, that balance has run since the beginning of the planet... and may still be running, for all we arrogant humans know. 90% of all the species of life that have inhabited this planet are now gone. We humans have been here on this planet for just a moment in time. I think it's logical to assume that we, as a species, won't last forever... even if we do colonize space. Through one way or another, our species will no longer be as it is today.

So my point is, I don't think any species is "next up" after us. Do we really think that we run this planet? That we're its caretaker or that we are the master of it? We are small in comparison to what has happened on this planet before us and what will happen after us.

Originally posted by Knights
I once read the ultimate goal of evolution is to reach a pure energy composure.

The only 'goal' in evolution is that an organism produce many offspring. There really is no goal in evolution, changes in the forms of organisms are a consequence of the logic of having an abundance of organisms that each have different reproductive rates linked to their physical variations. (that really sounds more complex than it is though, apologies for not being able to explain it in simpler terms).

We seem to be lingering in an age where medicines and health care keeps the unfit to multiply (no offence intended)

What makes them unfit? "Fitness" is, literally, a measure of reproductive abilities. A person that needs glasses to see is just as fit as a person that doesn't, so long as they have the glasses. Its about reproduction, not literal strength.

I think the octopus is next in line, the smartest non mammal in the ocean(that we know of), and has the tools for the move IMO.

What will humans evolve into in a million or so years? I doubt we are done.

How much if any have we changed from the ancient egyptians etc....?

Originally posted by Xeven
What will humans evolve into in a million or so years? I doubt we are done.

It depends on the stimuli that causes us to adapt fast, but scientists have been comparing us to our ancestors (as in millions of years ago ancestors) to start 'guesstimating' the changes. A few things that they've found is that we're getting taller in general, more diverse (different gene pools are developing), and more intelligent. If you believe in the metaphysical you could say humans also recently (past few thousand years) have begun developing some supernatural powers.
If man continues to walk alongside his technology and "Castes" develop (certain people favoring people with similar traits for their own) we should see several types of humans. From superstrong adaptive humans, to frail but supersmart humans. The more technologically adaptive humans may begin to develop more logic based minds (from learning code and logic) but because of a lot of technophiliacs today may be socially awkward (imagine super genius kids with no social skills running to and fro). Maybe they'll even have longer or more flexible fingers from being tied to the keyboard so much
Anyways, the human race as a whole is not evolving into something else, it's more like there are several human race(s) going to emerge.

How much if any have we changed from the ancient egyptians etc....?

if there is any difference it is probably about 0.00000000000000000001%
4000(ish) years is really not that much when you're talking about evolution. My guess is the biggest difference is our cell phones and our "global awareness".

Well, I have to say weve killed off an aweful lot of animals just in the last century, who knows what potential intelligent species we've done away with along the way aswell.

I think tech support agents would be the next to evolve, its about time we came out.