Evolution and humans: only we sweat (Evolution)

by dhw, Monday, April 23, 2018, 11:59 (2196 days ago) @ David Turell

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/sweating-may-be-why-we-became-the-dominant-species-on-...

QUOTE: "Millions of years ago, digestion consumed most of the calories we ate. Our brain takes 20 times more energy than any other organ in the body. So for our brain to develop, we needed a higher density food, and meat fit the bill.
"One theory of human evolution states that our ancestors began eating meat about 2 million years ago, which rapidly expanded the development of their brains. Since meat packed a lot of calories and fat, a diet including it over time allowed the brain to grow larger. But how did we get that meat?"

If eating meat expands the brain, why didn’t meat-eating animal brains expand? Doesn’t it make more sense to argue that as brains expanded, we needed more energy, and so we turned to meat-eating? Why would brains have started expanding? Perhaps because at some stage, certain pre-humans underwent a dramatic change of lifestyle which resulted in new ways of thinking, which in turn resulted in the need for new forms of implementation and consequent additions to the existing structure of the brain. For instance, learning to live on land rather than in the trees might have been the starting point for new ideas and expansion. Then the need for a richer diet to supply the extra energy led to hunting, and the need to hunt led to the need for weapons, and so the thoughts and the means of implementing those thoughts underwent their sequential processes of expansion.

As for the sweat and hunting theory, perhaps you can enlighten me, David. Do we actually know that those distant ancestors hunted large animals (as opposed to eating already dead carcasses?) Is it not possible that initially they could have satisfied their dietary needs with smaller, easily catchable animals and insects? And it was only when some genius thought up the idea of weaponry that they actually went after the bigger stuff? Just asking.

David’s comment: I don't buy that climate drove evolution but it must have played a role. But it is fascinating that only we sweat, while the others pant. Another amazing difference that isn't explained but any obvious need for that alteration in physiology driven by natural selection. More evidence for God directing our speciation.

Since sweating is obviously an advantage, the sweat glands must take their place alongside all the other amazing innovations that distinguish multicellular organisms from our bacterial ancestors. Why hearts, lungs, livers, brains, sexual organs? More evidence perhaps of the inventive, possibly God-given intelligence of cell communities?