[extropy-chat] The evolution of intelligence (3)

[Keith Henson]

At 10:44 PM 11/9/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm trying to understand what the evolution of intelligence might
>have been, and am in search of pointers to background sources. This
>seemed like a logical place to ask, given our shared interests.
>
>In some cognitive models, there's the idea of distinct capabilities,
>each having a biological basis. Each of which presumably conferred a
>reproductive advantage, in its first through its final forms,
>although it may not be clear that that advantage is wholly
>independent of the pre-existence of another of the capabilities.

One of the more divergent viewpoints is that of William Calvin.  Calvin's 
thinks that humans came to occupy the projectile hunter niche starting from 
close to chimp abilities and working up.  He has a remarkable good web site 
with all his books on it.

His view is that much of the other capacities such as speech reused the 
sequencing hardware originally for throwing.

Incidentally, with social animals in kin groups you have to consider 
Hamilton's inclusive fitness.  Some of the large evolutionary drivers such 
as wars are dependant on the reproduction of relatives of those who get 
killed in the process.

>What is the set of cognitive subsystems known to exist in some
>species? Which species have which subsystems? Why do they have those
>and why not the others? What does this look like in a taxonomic or
>timeline tree?
>
>I've dusted off my sf writer hat lately so I'm mostly looking for a
>plausible framework to draw on in creating lifeforms for stories I'm
>working on. It would also be nice to find folks in the pertinent
>fields who wouldn't mind if I asked stupid questions or ran ideas by.

I question if intelligence at the human level could emerge in a non social 
species.  So much of our smartness is due to memes . . .

Keith Henson