Although the human species has many differences, they all share several common traits. The first thing that catches your eye is the extremely large brain.
The brain of an average 60-kilogram mammal occupies 200
cubic centimeters. The earliest men and women who lived before
2.5 million years ago, the brain was about 600 cubic centimeters
volume. The modern representatives of the sapiens species show off between 1200 and 1400
cubic centimeters of brain volume. The Neanderthal brain, by the way,
were even bigger.
In fact, evolution’s favoring of larger brains might
look really stupid. We are so in awe of our mental abilities, that we do not doubt the great value of the power of the intellect, we imagine that
the more we have, the better for us. But if that were true,
the cat family would also have produced cats that could count.
Why is the genus Homo the only one in the entire animal kingdom that has acquired such powerful thinking machines?
The fact that a giant brain takes a huge amount of energy from the body. After all, it is not easy to constantly drag them with you, especially when
they are wedged into a massive skull for safety. It requires
additional energy costs. The ancients paid for brains
in two ways. First of all, it took them longer to find food. Second, decayed
their muscles. As a government, diverting funds previously intended for defense
for education, people diverted energy from biceps to neurons. It’s hard
to believe that such a survival strategy would work in the savannah. Chimpanzee
would not win an argument with Homo sapiens, but would tear him to pieces like
rag doll.
Today, our huge brains pay off handsomely because we can
make cars and guns: the former help us move a lot
faster than chimpanzees move, and the latter to shoot them at a safe distance,
instead of wrestling with them. Still, cars and guns
complete news. Human neural networks are constantly expanding
than 2 million years, but perhaps the only tangible benefit from them
all the while there were only flint knives and sharpened clubs. What then
factors that encouraged the development of the giant human brain for 2 million years? To be honest, we don’t know.
Another feature unique to the human race is walking
with two legs. Standing up made it easier to scan the savannah for prey or enemy; and the hands that were no longer needed to move,
there was an opportunity for other employment, say throwing stones or pointing
what signs The more diverse tasks these hands were able to perform,
the more success accompanied their owners, therefore driving evolution
strength increased the number of nerve fibers in the palms and fingers, improved the muscles of these parts of the body. That’s why people are able to do it with their hands a very difficult task, above all, to produce and use sophisticated tools.

The oldest remains of tools we have discovered date back to 2.5 million years ago
years, and it is the making and use of tools that archaeologists consider a distinguishing feature of ancient people.
It must be said that walking upright has its drawbacks. Ours
the skeleton of ancestral primates evolved over millions of years to support creatures that walked on all fours and had relatively small heads.
It was really difficult for him to adjust to the upright position; remember that this scaffolding had to support an extremely large skull. So
humanity has paid for wide vision and hardworking hands with backaches and stiff necks.
All this cost women even more. To make walking comfortable
with two legs, the hips had to narrow, so the birth canal also became narrower, and babies’ heads, let me remind you, kept getting bigger. There was a very serious danger – dying in childbirth. Women who have given birth before
while babies’ heads were still quite small and elastic, giving birth
she took the trauma more easily and survived – and later gave birth to more
more children. For that reason, natural selection favored early birth. If we compare humans with other animals,
the offspring of the former are indeed born prematurely, when most of their vital systems are not yet developed. Soon after the foal is born
begins to trot; the kitten leaves the mother after only a few weeks
and looking for food yourself. Human babies remain helpless for many years and
dependent on elders to feed, protect and educate them.

This fact has a very strong effect on both extraordinary people’s social
talents as well as unique social problems. Surrounded by chirping
children, single mothers were barely able to collect enough food
for themselves and their offspring. Mothers looking after children needed constant help from other family members and neighbors. A person could grow up
only in the tribe. As a result, evolution favored those who could
build strong social bonds. Since man is born undeveloped, he can be educated and socialized much more than anyone else
an animal. Most mammals emerge from the womb as glazed earthenware
dishes from the burning furnace – trying to somehow change their shape or
ornaments, we will only scratch or break them. Man from the womb
appears as molten glass from a wound. It can be stretched, twisted and otherwise shaped with incredible freedom. That’s why we can educate today
their children so that they become Christians or Buddhists, capitalists
or socialists, would be supporters of war or peace.

We usually think that a huge brain, the ability to use
tools, receptivity to learning, and a complex social structure are enormous advantages. It seems quite obvious that because of these things people
became the most powerful animals on Earth. But they had all these advantages for 2 million years, but remained weak all that time
and minor creatures. Even with a developed brain and sharp
stone tools, a person who lived a million years ago was constantly afraid of predators, very rarely decided to attack a larger victim and mostly
fed by gathering plants, digging in the ground and picking up insects, stalking small animals and preying on more powerful carnivores food left behind.
The first stone tools were mostly made of bone to split to taste the marrow of the bones. According to some researchers, this was our original niche. As woodpeckers specialized in pulling insect larvae from tree trunks, early humans
adapted to extract their brains from their bones. Why bone marrow?
Imagine a pack of lions startling and mauling a giraffe. You
wait patiently for them to have their fill and leave. It’s your turn, though
didn’t come, because then hyenas and jackals start eating the leftovers, and you don’t
you don’t want to annoy them. And it’s only after they walk out that your squad ventures out
approach the buried skeletons. Looking carefully to the sides, you attack the edible tissues preserved in the bone cavities.
Si theory is very helpful in understanding our history and psychology. True
the fact that until recently the human tribe occupied the food chains
the middle For millions of years, humans have hunted smaller animals and
collected all kinds of edible plants, and in turn hunted people
larger predators. Only 400,000 years ago some human species
began to regularly pursue large game, and only before 100,000
years ago – with the spread of Homo sapiens – man jumped into the food chain the top
Such an impressive jump from the middle to the very top was very significant. Other animals at the top of the food pyramid such as
lions and sharks reached this position gradually, over millions of years years. During this time, the ecological system was able to put in place some sort of “checks and balances” system that prevented lions and sharks from major damage. As lions became more dangerous, gazelles learned to run even faster, hyenas learned to cooperate more effectively, and the character of rhinos even more subjured. The fate of humans was completely different: they rose to the top so quickly that the ecological system did not have enough time to adapt time In addition, the people themselves did not manage to come to terms with their situation. Most of the most powerful predators on the planet are majestic creatures. As they reigned for millions of years, they gained an unbreakable trust. And sapiens more like a banana republic dictator in that regard. Having been the pushers of the savanna until very recently, we are constantly afraid and worried because of our position, which makes us doubly cruel and dangerous. This one our reckless leap has caused many of history’s disasters, from freak wars to ecological catastrophes.