Is This the Moment Humans Broke Away From Evolution? | Unveiled

Is This the Moment Humans Broke Away from Evolution?

Scientists estimate there are at least 8.7 million species of plant and animal on Earth, perhaps tens of millions more, but humans still comfortably sit at the top of the food chain. We’re so secure in our position, and so much more advanced than the next smartest animal along from us, that we don’t even really consider the possibility of our species being overtaken. There’s just something about human beings that drastically sets us apart - but what exactly is that something?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; Is this the moment that humans broke away from evolution?

We know humanity today as one species. If we look at other animals like cats, dogs, lizards, or sharks, we see that many different species have evolved within their group. However, there’s only one human being, homo sapiens. Genetically speaking, our next closest relatives are the chimpanzee and bonobo primates, but even they are very different from us. During the Paleolithic period, or early stone age, however, there were multiple human species sharing the Earth at the same time, including the Neanderthals, homo erectus, homo naledi, and more… with their timelines variously criss-crossing over one another’s.

And yet, despite the one-time variations that were here, all those other, former species are now extinct, leaving only us, homo sapiens, as the last standing member. And, while archaeologists aren’t exactly sure why this should be the case, there are a few theories. Perhaps periods of climate change were to blame, affecting other species more than our own… or it might’ve been prolonged and severe competition, in some parts, with sapiens happening to win out. But another idea is that homo sapiens have managed to survive for so long mostly due to our improved cognitive abilities in particularly key areas like communication, planning, and teamwork. These were essential capabilities for enduring the hard times of Earth’s ancient past… but, still, when exactly did humans develop these skills?

Some scientists point to an event they call the big bang of the brain. This is a theorized instance in time where homo sapiens developed a seeming change in their makeup that allowed them to, in a sense, break away from evolution. Ever since that time, humanity has exponentially become more advanced, forming societies, building complex tools, and implementing science.

It’s thought that this road to the modern world may have started with multiple species of early humans developing a particular gene… found to be present in at least homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans, but not in our closely related chimps. Researchers think this gene may have been what allowed for the human brain to grow to bigger sizes, which in turn dramatically increased the amount of brain cells it could carry, and the patterns it could form. With the arrival of this gene, then, a crucial first step was made. But another, more specialised step was on the horizon, to one day separate sapiens specifically.

Homo sapiens brain is around three times bigger than that of Australopithecus, for example, but really size (in itself) doesn’t matter. Instead, researchers especially study the neocortex, as it’s the seat of many of those more advanced cognitive functions like language and critical thinking. The more crucial aspects toward survivability, and the skills that often set us apart from our earliest ancestors. We have these abilities while others didn’t, and again it all has to do with genes. In 2015, it was shown scientifically how genetics can shape how our brains form, following the discovery of a specific gene by the name of ARHGAP11B. A team led by the neurobiologist Marta Florio experimented by inserting this gene into mice and observing the outcome. They found that the mice ended up growing larger neocortices and more neurons. Some of the mice brains even started to alter their shape to pack more brain into a tighter space. While the experimenters were unable to measure whether the mice had become actually more intelligent as a result, something that might resemble a potential early progression for the human brain had now been witnessed.

Nevertheless, there was plenty more left to explore… and if the human brain did develop in a similar way, then there were still yet more steps to take before it could reach its unparalleled heights of today. Again, in general, we know that it requires more than just brain size to make an intelligent species, as some animals with physically smaller brains are still extremely smart. We see survival instincts on display all the time in the wild, too… and there are various studies to show various methods of communication made between animal and plant groups. So, again, how did humans grow to be so different? Science now thinks that it could all be down to a skill that perhaps, at first, doesn’t seem quite so fundamentally useful as some others… and often in today’s society still isn’t prioritized – creativity.

And so, we return to that concept from earlier, the big bang of the brain. While the parameters for it are by no means set in stone, we’re here referring to a time somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. Back then, increasingly modern homo sapiens experienced a sudden and unrivaled boom in creative output. They rapidly found themselves inventing clever and ingenious tools and weapons. The first instances of art appear, too, with the spread of cave paintings in an apparent bid by sapiens to make better sense of the world. Early technologies were quickly improved, new materials were made, more and more decorative items were fashioned. For whatever reason, homo sapiens was making a break for it in terms of culture… but it’s also suggested that this sudden rush of creative thought may have partly inspired many of the mass migrations around that time, too. With new ideas forming in their minds, sapiens increasingly sought new places in which to nurture them.

And while sapiens rose to the top… all other remaining human species died off around them, if they hadn’t done so already. They had simply evolved differently, and seemingly without creativity (or, at least, without as much creativity) and so they were ultimately done for. Meanwhile, the drawing of pictures, the telling of stories, and the making of tools constituted (for the surviving sapiens) an early form of information sharing. And with that, they grew stronger and stronger, pushing themselves on by innovation. The development of our creativity, then, could well be considered the defining moment.

What’s a little frustrating, however, is that we remain unsure as to exactly why our brains developed in this way. It was likely a combination of accrued knowledge by early sapiens, the ways their genes evolved specifically, and the environment on this planet all those millennia ago. Skills and technologies no doubt improved with the generations, too, perhaps fast-tracking once sapiens were the only humans left. It’s thought that early languages, for example, widened and diversified around the same time. And social structure began to set in, with hierarchies, expectations, and ambitions… as humans went about honing their growing skill sets and changing themselves.

While there have been countless important milestones in the development of life in general, not least the period of abiogenesis right at the beginning of it all, it’s thought there are few stages that are quite so pivotal to human beings as the rise of creativity. Naturally, then, there are questions as to whether we’ll ever see another such shift, in the future. For some, it’s a possibility, and could even be just around the corner. Many of the predictions of this ilk are unsurprisingly fuelled by the rise of AI; by the apparent future possibilities of things like robotic enhancements to boost our brain power.

The first creative boom, around 50,000 years ago, was so important because it enabled us to better understand and manipulate our environment, all while communicating with one another for increased efficiency. And, in many ways, the emergence of AI is targeting the same thing – a better and more efficient way of living. Only time will tell whether its arrival will ever prove quite so “make or break” for our species, though. Or, indeed, whether AI is set for a defining, creative surge of its own… which would be another major event, and a different story, altogether.

But, for now, scientists can continue looking into our own past to contemplate how we got to this point. To consider exactly why it is that humans developed in the way they did. Were there other directions we might’ve headed in, or was our particular path of life always meant to be this way? There are certainly some big questions left to answer, but it seems as though we can highlight at least two main “before and after” moments: first, an increase in brain size driven by genes… and second, that early creative burst by us which may have been vital. So vital, in fact, that it may have been the key moment when humans truly broke away from evolution.