From the conclusion:
... If, for the sake of argument, we accept the most popular explanation (savanna & running fantasies --mv) for each
trait to be the correct one, a scenario of evolution by internal drive emerges:
-the large brain evolved because complex social organization required higher intelligence,
How scientists perceive the evolutionary origin of human traits:
Results of a survey study
Hanna Tuomisto, Matleena Tuomisto, Jouni Tuomisto 2018
doi org/10.1002/ece3.3887 open access
From the conclusion:
... If, for the sake of argument, we accept the most popular explanation (savanna & running fantasies --mv) for each trait to be the correct one, a scenario of evolution by internal drive emerges:
-the large brain evolved because complex social organization required higher intelligence,
-the subcutaneous fat layer evolved to serve as an energy reserve for the developing brain,
-articulate speech evolved because there was social pressure for elaborate communication,
-the larynx descended because this was required by articulate speech, -bipedalism evolved to make the use of tools and weapons easier,
-nakedness evolved to avoid overheating when hunting.
For most traits, the next most popular explanation was not far behind in popularity.
Most of these were also based on inherent drivers, but sometimes in the opposite temporal sequence, e.g.
- articulate speech was triggered by the descended larynx,
- large brain evolved because it was required by articulate speech.
We found this result disturbing, because the overwhelming popularity of hypotheses based on inherent drivers gives the impression that human evolution is generally thought to have been goal-directed.
This would be in conflict with the current understanding (explained in every evolutionary biology textbook) that evolution has no foresight.
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