I have heard that sceletonremains has shown that homo sapiens crossbred with neanderthals , so you might have a point E.F.O.Chi ....... Selfconciousness and intelligens do excist among other species, only not to the level of us humans ..... The bonobo DNA is more than 98 % like ours - could be interesting to crossbreed a bonobo ape with a human - it should work - has it been done ? Just to see how much crossbreeding would mean - or ad to abilities .....
JustaGirl had the right idea when she called it dumb luck that we developed intelligence. I do not think there is any good evidence that our ancestors bred with Neandertals, although in the last 20 or so years it has been discovered that the two speciaes coexisted for many thousands of years. I do not think there is any evidence that the two species traded, fought, or interacted. I do not think there is any reason to suppose that they did not interact. There is just no evidence either way. It is my belief that there was sex between the two species. There is ample evidence that one of the two species has had sex with sheep, goats, rubber dolls, and almost anything else that had an orifice of a suitable size.
There is some speculation pertaining to the red hair gene in European peoples being linked with the Neanderthals. http://www.dhamurian.org.au/anthropology/neanderthal1.html
Prince James: Some cursory searches suggest to me that the Dhamurian Society is not a reliable source of scientific information. I am not interested enough to investigate further. For the time being I will trust my memory of other sources, which strongly imply that our ancstors did not breed with Neandertals.
Dinosaur: I did not check the resource's legitimacy. I had previously read an article on a more scientifically-oriented site and was simply looking for it. However, right now I cannot find anything on the matter, so I think you might well be right as to the legitimacy of this claim.
Concerning the evolution of the brain: Mutations happen randomly yes. and the successful ones that allow for adaptation to environment stay around due to natural selection yes. there is a gene that turns on during development which controls brain growth among all animals with brains. when the gene shuts off, the brain stops growing. one idea is that a random mutation of this gene occured among chimps allowing it to stay in the 'on' position longer. this is the primary sientific theory for the development of human intelligence.
explain to me how anything is random in the universe, not a single thing is random, everything happens for a reason, its just like this, imagine you have a ball its just there nothing else, just a ball, the ball will stay there for the rest of existance, unless something makes it "do something" and if anything in the universe happens its because another force/energy/thing has caused it to do so. peace,
Do not forget just how intricate our world is. Think about how many things had to fall in place to bring you to this exact point in time. Also, the most miniscule thing can change everything further down the line.
when stating that mutations are random i was referring to the linking and crossing over of alleles within a pair of chromosomes. random here does not imply that there was not a definable causal relationship. but that the cause of the particular mutation through reproduction is not based on a specific need for that lifeform in adapting to its environment. many unsucessful mutations occur, they are not widely adopted and as the carrier does not reproduce, that mutation is ended. the successful ones continue thus giving the overall appearance that the scpecies is adapting to the environment. this is natural selection but the point is the term random can still exist and does not mean that one action can have two equally likely outcomes (which would generate randomness); rather, that mutations are not predetermined and do not follow a pattern of occurence.
EmptyForceOfChi: The world of our senses is controlled by quantum phenomena, which are random processes. It might be more accurate to say that everything is random. Causality could be a very convincing illusion resulting from the law of large numbers.