Evolution question

[moosenoose]

I love this quote: If man evolved from monkeys how come there are still monkeys{/b] :lol: :lol:

I eat meat for fun anyway

 

[Joshua VW]

I couldn't live if I couldn't eat meat.

 

[Joshua VW]

I hate vegetables.

 

[Joshua VW]

I might be able to survive on fruit thought.

 

[mr black]

I would like to keep this thread on topic. Please don't turn it into a vegetarian/christian/i love meat argument that a good deal of the thread already is.

Please just keep it to the science of diet and human evolution

 

[Joshua VW]

I reckon it's not as healthy to have a fully vegetable diet.

 

[cris]

The main thing i dont get is why a simply energy that requies virtually no brain power to find would drive us to evolve to be smarter. Seems far more logical that a far more nutritous meat meal, that requires far more thinking to aquire would drive this evolution.

It also seems stupid to suggest ppl where running around on the gound to get starchy foods while walking past a far more tasty animal meal.

Without eating meat we simply wouldnt be here today, as pointed out right at the begining of the thread.

 

[slim6y]

Speak for yourself...

I didnt see any valid theory in that potato article, sad how they always leave stuff out in the news.

How is that speaking for myself? I speak for everyone on this...

If women are gatherers - and men are hunters - this is part of our evolutionary skills!

Therefore - without hunting we wouldn't have made tools like scud missiles and the hydrogen bomb... Instead we'd all be pulling each others hair out!

 

[JasonL]

I went through and had a look at the number of new PhDs from a group of students I am familar with. Of the 6, 4 were vegetarians. So this post is not about fact, its about who people chose to discriminate against.. shame shame shame. does that mean that the vegetarians (of which I cannot say I am one) should put up a poll asking if all meat eaters were red neck fascists? fools.
.

You would need all your friends relatives going back many generations to be vegetarians to have any possible effects on their brain capacity. The original question is a reasonable one and is not talking about individuals and their food preferences.

 

[cris]

Slim6y, sorry i misread what you were saying i thought you meant we are all a pack of women now because we dont hunt anymore :lol:

 

[Vat69]

Ahh yes, because women are of course inferior specimens! :lol:

Annd to make my post relevent, yes, I believe that the pull to eat meat forced humans to become more intelligent.

 

[mr black]

The main thing i dont get is why a simply energy that requies virtually no brain power to find would drive us to evolve to be smarter. Seems far more logical that a far more nutritous meat meal, that requires far more thinking to aquire would drive this evolution.

It also seems stupid to suggest ppl where running around on the gound to get starchy foods while walking past a far more tasty animal meal.

Without eating meat we simply wouldnt be here today, as pointed out right at the begining of the thread.

Think of it like this. There was a point where we were not intelligent enough to hunt or catch animals for food and hence did not recognise animals as a food source. It is a lot easier to dig roots out of the ground then hunt animals at this point.

Roots contain high levels of starch, which is a combination of amylose and amylopectin which are polysaccharides. They are very high in energy content due to the amount of glucose sub units in these polysaccharides. This energy allowed for the formation of the brain and as the brain developed so did our intelligence and then the ability to hunt.

So with the ability to hunt came the extra benefits of meat proteins and hence the rest is history.

 

[mr black]

In a way the starch provided a precursor of intelligence due to the energy imput which allowed hunting. I believe personally that social interactions were much more of a benefit to the evolution of intelligence than overall diet or surroundings. Working together gives more stability in a community allowing members of the community to focus on separate endeavours, such as hunting and gathering or building etc other than depending on yourself to do it all etc.

 

[Joshua VW]

Well I reckon you're all wrong when it comes to how we became so smart but I'll keep my mouth shut about it.

 

[slim6y]

Vat - there was nothnig sexist in saying "we'll all be a pack of women" I happen to like women (haha).

To be honest, the truth behind my post was to highlight the point that hunting played a HUGE role in our evolution - and the 4 out of 6 PhD students who were vegetarians, have our evolutionary partners from the prehistoric age to thank for that.

Yes, women were predominantley gathers, yes men were predominantley hunters. It is because of these roles that we had built in our societies and communities that we survived so well.

Part of our evolutionary success (invention in particular) can all stem back from hunting!

The wheel and metal working (what for... hunting)...

 

[Vat69]

Slim, I wasn't referring to you. Sorry I wasn't being clear.

I was just joking anyways, but thankyou for bothering to explain your post rather than get defensive and reply with something offensive. I think alot of members would do well to follow that example

 

[cris]

I like women too, doesnt mean that as a male i want to be one... well maybe for just a day :lol:
It is a well known fact that biologically women are better gathers and nurturers and men are better hunters, fighters and technologists. Each is as important as the other but definately differant.

War and hunting have been the primary drive for our intellegence and technology IMO, eating potatoes and farming have simply helped us on the way.

 

[slim6y]

You see cris, that is why we're evolutionary superior - we had hunting and gathering for meat and two veg (we're two thirds vegetarian anyway).

And after reading about copulating possums - look what they're degraqded to - doing it on the discovery channel (on people's roofs during sense and sensibility) - if they had hunted instead of gathered, it may have been us on their roof!!!

 

[PhilK]

I've thought about this a bit and was wondering what other people think. I've noticed a few digs at vegetarians in some of the threads - my question is this:

Do you think if the human species were vegetarians, would they have evolved to be:

1. Equally intelligent
2. Of lesser intelligence
3. Of greater intelligence

Interested in your thoughts.

Probably wouldn't have been as intelligent, as they were top predators, and so could survive. If we weren't top predators, another animal would take that niche and eat us. Look at most of the higher animals (mammals) - carnivores and omnivores. The important thing about people is they need both meat and plant matter.

The drive to hunt animals and gather food lead to tool use etc etc. All the 'lower' mammals (intelligence-wise) are herbivores. People are what they are, because they were what they were (think about it.)

 

[mr black]

The drive to hunt animals and gather food lead to tool use etc etc. All the 'lower' mammals (intelligence-wise) are herbivores.

What about elephants? They are one of the three known species that have demonstrated a sense of consciousness and they are herbivorous. Their social hierarchy is what has made them intelligent, not their diet.

Yes humans are different, but if the theory of starch being the major energy source to build our brains is correct then obviously without it hunting etc may not of occurred at all and we might still be eating fruit from trees.