Did I find an error in the logic of Evolution with just 2 questions?

[Andrew589]

1. If we descended from an unknown common ancestor that was a step up from chimpanzees and bonobo's, then by biological definition, shouldn't chimpanzees and bonobos be much more wise and more intelligent than humans as they are the ones who came first through evolution before our unknown common ancestor did?

2. How is it possible for natural selection to skip over chimpanzees and bonobos by giving our common ancestor a much more advanced brain because doesn't that break the definition of something "Evolving" over time which is what evolution is supposed to be? That is like saying, "screw the chimps and bonobos, let's start at the unknown common ancestor and move on up from there?"

 

[FactChecker]

1. If we descended from an unknown common ancestor that was a step up from chimpanzees and bonobo's, then by biological definition, shouldn't chimpanzees and bonobos be much more wise and more intelligent than humans as they are the ones who came first through evolution before our unknown common ancestor did?

They can not become more intelligent without changing. Then they would no longer be called chimpanzees or bonobos

2. How is it possible for natural selection to skip over chimpanzees and bonobos by giving our common ancestor a much more advanced brain because doesn't that break the definition of something "Evolving" over time which is what evolution is supposed to be? That is like saying, "screw the chimps and bonobos, let's start at the unknown common ancestor and move on up from there?"

You are saying that there can not be evolution because it should happen more often (also to chimps and bonobos). IMHO, that is a basic error in logic.

 

[fresh_42]

1. If we descended from an unknown common ancestor that was a step up from chimpanzees and bonobo's, then by biological definition, shouldn't chimpanzees and bonobos be much more wise and more intelligent than humans ...

This uses a manmade scale and definitions and is thus not objective.

... as they are the ones who came first through evolution before our unknown common ancestor did?

You should learn evolution first. It is a bit more complicated than your linear line of reasoning.

2. How is it possible for natural selection to skip over chimpanzees and bonobos by giving our common ancestor a much more advanced brain because doesn't that break the definition of something "Evolving" over time which is what evolution is supposed to be? That is like saying, "screw the chimps and bonobos, let's start at the unknown common ancestor and move on up from there?"

See remark above. That's not how evolution works. Please base your sentiments on a scientific bases and let me know if you had found one which supports your speculations.

Thread closed.

 

[Drakkith]

Thanks to Fresh for reopening the thread to let me post this.

1. If we descended from an unknown common ancestor that was a step up from chimpanzees and bonobo's, then by biological definition, shouldn't chimpanzees and bonobos be much more wise and more intelligent than humans as they are the ones who came first through evolution before our unknown common ancestor did?

On the contrary, it is the opposite. One of the defining attributes of the human lineage is the several-fold increase in size and complexity of our brains compared to our closest relatives. This is very well documented in the fossil record over the last several million years. Hundreds if not thousands of fossils have been found that let's us map out the evolutionary history of our species since we split from our shared last common ancestor.

2. How is it possible for natural selection to skip over chimpanzees and bonobos by giving our common ancestor a much more advanced brain because doesn't that break the definition of something "Evolving" over time which is what evolution is supposed to be? That is like saying, "screw the chimps and bonobos, let's start at the unknown common ancestor and move on up from there?"

Our common ancestor did not have a much more advanced brain. Remember that our last common ancestor was the ancestor of all three species. What happened was that a population of this LCA species split off, accrued different mutations, and was exposed to different environmental pressures that caused it to evolve in a different way than the population that eventually became chimps.

Also, like I said above, the evolution of our brain took several million years. It did not just suddenly pop into existence in the fossil record.

 

[fresh_42]

shouldn't chimpanzees and bonobos be much more wise and more intelligent than humans

Well, bonobos are the hippies among us primates. They don't make war and do not kill others. I cannot help, but I find this wiser and more intelligent than what we do.