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From: ccb8m@viper.cs.Virginia.EDU (Charles C. Bundy)
Subject: Re: ???
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References: <kevin-1707951334290001@79.rahul.net> <3uhtac$pq3@mars.hyperk.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 17:39:54 GMT
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In article <3uhtac$pq3@mars.hyperk.com> Kevin Coble <kxc@srv.net> writes:
>I agree on most of Keith's points, with the exception of intelligence not
>having any possible downside ("...but having the intelligence to think

Agreed.  Life seems to be a compromise at the physical as well as the
social level.  No species is going to get all the goodies :)

>The size of the female pelvic bone (in sapiens) will not allow a head
>with a fully developed brain to pass.  For this reason monkey, ape, and
>especially human infants emerge extremely helpless, and remain so for an
>extensive period compared to other mammals.

A good example of physical compromise.

>
>Other animals roamed the earth long before the monkeys moved up the
>evolutionary scale, and it is doubtful anything close to intelligence

Umm, I wouldn't try to be species-centric and use some scale to compare
evolution.  Monkey's didn't move "up" an evolutionary ladder, they
simply "evolved" as are all other life forms.

>emerged in the millions of years of large scale lifeforms before. 

Don't be so sure.  I have read a number of spatial "Foretean" (sp?)
events which indicate advanced technology in non-compatible time
scales IE: Sandal Prints fossilized in 200 million year old sandstone
"nails" embeded in amber and other old strata formations, etc...

I believe that intelligent species existed prior to the age of mammals.

>Intelligence is perhaps the ultimate survival tool for evolution, but it
>is not inevitable, nor easy to come by!

I wouldn't say that either.  One could as easily say that cooperation is 
the ultimate survival tool.  Your "intelligence" isn't much good in
environments which don't select for that as a survival trait.  It's also
only as good as what preceeded you.  One lone intelligence is dog-meat.
One lone intelligence with the support of it's intelligent brethren
can tame hostile environments, and give future offspring a running start.

Charles C. Bundy IV
ccb8m@preferred.com
