Does a process of "death", shall we say, cause intelligence?
Evolution is pressure. Pressure causes struggle. Creatures struggling not to be destroyed evolve adaptations. Intelligence, as we have evolved it, is also an adaptation.
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Survival of the fittest? Or blind sh!thouse luck?
Wouldn’t intelligence need to be there to be aware that one is dying?
Life is a long journey of near misses and learning along the way to understand ones role in it.
@Inspired_2write: Of course. I meant a process of death causes more intelligence.
In our case, I believe the opposable thumb really got the ball rolling. The rest just fell into play until we got here.
Your own details contradict the premise of your question. It’s not death that promotes intelligence, but evolution. Evolution does not require death. It only requires reproduction with variation.
@luigirovatti
“Of course. I meant a process of death causes more intelligence”
Other than learning about death as it is happening , a little late, right?
I suppose those that have near death experiences learn about “Spiritual“levels of which one has a near miss with death come back to consciousness and tell the world about the experience and thus relieves fear of death somewhat?
It also borders on the concept of “multi dimensions ” of life in that one does not die but rather moves onto another dimension.
As @SavoirFaire said, it is not death that promotes intelligence, unless you are SO stupid you get yourself killed before you can pass on the genes.
More like the realization of the reality of one’s fate. Not intelligence, just awareness.
Your chain of logic is flawed. evolution is not pressure, and it is not always part of a struggle to survive.
Many times evolution is a process of rising above the mundane into a state of thriving.
Well. You can learn from things, that almost kill you.
But if you’re stupid you don’t learn.
@Dutchess_III: I suppose the question, then, is as follows: Do stupid people learn something when they had a trauma from almost death?
Even if they do learn something, it’s not evolution.
You are, in effect, saying that survival causes intelligence. Quite the opposite for some creatures – intelligence results in survival (e.g. primates). For other creatures, superfast reproduction results in survival (e.g. bacteria).
In a sense, life is a drawn out process of death. Being alive and growing older is cellular death.
But hopefully we are also gaining wisdom with age.
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