Why only people have evolved wisdom? Why don't chimpanzees?

At present, the diameter of the observable universe has reached 93 billion light years, and under the existing conditions, we have observed at least 200 billion galaxies similar to the Milky Way, not to mention the number of stars, but only the earth is the only known living planet, and our human civilization is also the only known intelligent civilization.

Some people think that human beings can become intelligent civilization because early humans can use tools, which is also the biggest difference between us and animals. However, if we carefully observe the animals in nature, we will find that this view is neither perfect nor accurate.

The symbol of the formation of intelligent civilization

Although the ancestors of human beings in primitive times were apes, the evolution from apes to humans did not happen overnight. It took countless years and natural selection and other environmental influences to evolve into today's human beings.

First of all, in primitive times, we were all unkempt and our hair grew vigorously. We are covered with hair, just like animals. Even if we want to eat meat, we can only eat leftovers from animals. This is because we humans don't have the huge body and running limbs like animals.

Later, in the evolution of apes, there appeared homo habilis, Homo erectus, Mauritanian, Homo sapiens and other species. We humans began to walk upright, from eating leftovers to boiling water to cooking, which also made us aware of the existence of fire, so that our brains began to develop slowly, from the brain capacity of Australopithecus to the average 1.360ml.

Later, in the process of human evolution, the brain developed further, which made our ability to make and use tools stronger and stronger, and even gave birth to language and ushered in the Stone Age. "Drilling wood for fire" was the most famous achievement at that time. It is this achievement that makes us polish all kinds of tools with fire, and the Stone Age also marks the beginning of the transition from the ape-man stage to our modern people.

Is it possible for chimpanzees to evolve into humans?

Recently, scientists have observed that chimpanzees can catch termites with branches to eat, orangutans can build simple houses for themselves, and Panamanian monkeys can break nuts with stones to enjoy delicious fruits inside. Someone even asked a strange question. Is it possible for chimpanzees to evolve into humans?

Before answering this question, we must first understand that "using tools" and "manufacturing tools" are two completely different concepts. According to the data, human ancestors began to "make" tools and use them about 3 million years ago, which means that they all had a sense of production at that time. In the following days, many tools that are not found in nature will be made, such as axes and hammers, and these monkeys just use tools, which can be said to be just an acquisition behavior between species.

In the population of many species, they will pass on the experience that is beneficial to the survival of this species to other members and even the next generation. Creatures that live by population are born with strong imitation ability. Just like the Panamanian monkey mentioned before, when faced with the hard shell of food, one monkey accidentally found that it was a good way to hit it with stones. Other monkeys would try to imitate it and tell the next generation about this skill.

Although they do know how to use tools, they only pick up things that exist in nature and don't create their own tools, which is the biggest difference from early humans. Therefore, it can be said that using tools is not the only criterion of an intelligent life, but a very common behavior in nature.

The difference between chimpanzees and humans

Although chimpanzees and humans have similar genes, there are huge differences between them. We can compare them from the following different angles.

First of all, from the perspective of survival time, human beings usually live longer than chimpanzees. Few people can live to be over 50. On the other hand, we humans can live about twice as long. In addition, due to the improvement, these data were completely valid long ago and now.

Secondly, the ability of language communication, scientists have spent many years to cultivate chimpanzees' language learning ability in all environmental conditions, but from the experimental results, although chimpanzees know how to express their ideas and know hundreds of words at the same time, they still can't really master the language we define, that is, the so-called vocabulary and grammar. For example, I want to drink water and "water" are not the same thing, but humans can understand this difference at a very young age and can freely combine words and express them completely, but chimpanzees are not suitable for this ability.

Finally, the posture of humans and chimpanzees. As we all know, chimpanzees walk on all fours for most of their lives, and the time of linear movement is particularly short, while humans have evolved to walk on two feet. If we want to distinguish between humans and chimpanzees, standing is an important factor. The important process of standing began about 6.5438+0.5 million years after human evolved into a biped. From the Stone Age to today's scientific and technological era, it is inseparable from this special transformation node.

Using tools does not mean evolution.

In nature, we are not the only ones who can use tools. A large number of ancient low-level creatures have already used tools, and many animals also use tools themselves in foraging. For example, sea otters can pick up stones and break open mussels, and ravens can also pick off branches and break them, leave a shovel with the right thickness, and then go to the tree hole to dig bugs. They can also keep tools and carry them around for a long time. These are some tools made and used.

That is to say, in nature, there are not a few animals that can use tools, but in fact this is just an instinctive behavior to maintain their lives in the process of survival. We modern biologists also found that primates and apes have excellent ability to make and use tools, including using stone tools. This shows that the use of tools as a feature of the evolution of intelligent civilization is not valid, that is to say, the use of tools is not a unique ability of human beings, but the evolution of human intelligent civilization actually happens gradually in the extended sequence of biology.