Behold the Homind

Lynn Margulis (born 1938) is a biologist and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 1967 she proposed a contentious new hypothesis which became her most important scientific contribution as the endosymbiotic theory of the origin of mitochondria as separate organisms that long ago entered a symbiotic relationship with eukaryotic cells through endosymbiosis."She is best known for her theory of symbiogenesis, which challenges a central tenet of neodarwinism. She argues that inherited variation, significant in evolution, does not come mainly from random mutations. Rather new tissues, organs, and even new species evolve primarily through the long-lasting intimacy of strangers. The fusion of genomes in symbioses followed by natural selection, she suggests, leads to increasingly complex levels of individuality." [1]"After the proposal of the endosymbiotic theory, Margulis predicted that if organelles were prokaryotic symbionts, then the organelles will have their own DNA that would be different from the DNA of the cell. This prediction was actually proven in the 1980's in mitochondria, centrioles, and chloroplasts." [2]She was criticized as a radical and her scientific work was rejected by mainstream biology for many years. Her work has more recently received widespread support and acclaim. Prominent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins recently said that her theory that the eukaryotic cell is a symbiotic union of primitive prokaryotic cells "is one of the great achievements of twentieth-century evolutionary biology, and I greatly admire her for it."Margulis was inducted into the World Academy of Art and Science, the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences between 1995 and 1998.She is also a proponent and co-developer of the modern version of Gaia theory, based on an idea developed by the English atmospheric scientist James Lovelock.She was the first wife of astronomer Carl Sagan and is the mother of Dorion Sagan, popular science writer and co-author, Jeremy Sagan, software developer and founder of Sagan Technology, Zachary Margulis, lawyer and Jennifer Margulis, teacher and author.

nwr writes:My point is that intelligence is mainly a social adaptation. We use our intelligence most importantly for social interactions. That our intelligence is greater than that of other social species, is related to the complexity of our social interactions being greater than with other social species.Sure, we also use intelligence to explore space, design aircraft, etc. But our ability to use intelligence in that way is mainly a side effect of a social adaptation.

The above analysis seems circular: aren't our social interactions more complex in large part because of our intelligence?

Our social adaptations and intelligence are surely intimately linked, but are you suggesting that social adaptation alone drove the evolution of our intelligence?

I find it hard to come up with a scenario where there could be selection for intelligence.

Try selection for creativity.