briefly comment on the evolution of human being as a thinking animal in 250 words
Answers
Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa -- chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas -- share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.
The evolution of human intelligence is closely tied to the evolution of the human brain and to the origin of language. The timeline of human evolution spans approximately 7 million years, from the separation of the genus Pan until the emergence of behavioral modernity by 50,000 years ago. The first 3 million years of this timeline concern Sahelanthropus, the following 2 million concern Australopithecus and the final 2 million span the history of the genus Homo in the Paleolithic era.
Many traits of human intelligence, such as empathy, theory of mind, mourning, ritual, and the use of symbols and tools, are apparent in great apes although in less sophisticated forms than found in humans, such as great ape language.
Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years. Species of modern humans populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably within the past 60,000 years and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years or so. The beginnings of agriculture and the rise of the first civilizations occurred within the past 12,000 years.
The process of evolution endowed human beings with the several unique capabilities. Only they have the ability to use symbols, to think, to laugh, to question about secrets of life and death. Such abilities are not found among other animals. Anthropologists have been studying how these capabilities evolved in humans. The large cranial (brain) capacity of humans evolved (to the present average figure of 1450 CC from about 500 cc capacity) slowly over a period of fifteen to twenty thousand years. Comparatively, the use of language evolved faster, but it was influenced by the growth of the size of brain.
Culture, yet another distinctive feature of human beings, comes from the ability of humans to conceptualise and to abstract through the use of symbols. It evolved slowly, with the process of biological evolution of humans. But within the span of the past 20 thousand years, not the biological but the cultural evolution of humankind has come to dominate the mode of social changes. The use of language made more Complex manifestations of culture possible, and acquired institutionalised forms. But culture existed even before the human attained the ability to use language.
The ability to communicate by using linguistic symbols liberated human beings from their physical and environmental dependence. It made it possible for them to have an objective and Critical appraisal of natural and social phenomena. This ability is an essential component part of the cultural endowment of human beings.