There are two main reasons why animals have not become more "cognitively aware" and why higher intelligence is so rare on Earth (and most likely throughout the Universe): 1) The brain is expensive. The brain is 3 lbs but takes up far more than 20% of our energy expenditure. In order to have natural selection select for increased brain size the organism has to be able to fully utilize it for immediate survival and reproduction value. 2) Intelligence is not a trait that is typically beneficial on evolutionary timescales. There are other traits that are far more beneficial like speed, strength, enhanced sense or sight, echolocation etc. All of these evolutionary beneficial traits are more frequently selected for over intelligence because they are immediately useful on evolutionary timescales. If you live on the African savannah (or any other natural landscape) it doesn't matter how smart you are if there is an animal (or a group of animals) that are faster and stronger than you. In order for intelligence to be useful you have to leverage millions of years of cultural evolution. Evolution has no foresight. Intelligence is usually a hinderance for most animals, not a benefit. To sum up quickly: Energy is better spent on less expensive sensory organs and on skills that are immediately beneficial.
So with our 'ratcheting' ability to communicate our intelligence to one another it became much easier for us to learn from one generation to the next. Which expended less energy than it would have taken for other animals to learn the same thing.
"Ratcheting" isn't actually just communicating knowledge to each other (although that is a prerequisite). Cultural ratcheting is when there is generational improvement on previous cultural knowledge or technological ability. Basically the next generation is taught what is known, and then attempts to improve it in some way to benefit the entire group. This has been displayed in no other species except our own. The reason our intelligence was selected for is still a matter of intense debate among paleoanthropologists, however we do know that other key traits were selected for before larger brain size. This is key. For example, opposable thumbs and bipedalism were selected for millions of years before larger brain size. In this sense, in order for intelligence to be selected for, their must be necessary pre-adaptations. Once our ancestors were fully bipedal and able to manipulate objects with our opposable thumbs, it then became more beneficial to possess a larger brain with which to help us manipulate our environment in increasingly complex ways. Also, it is likely that we developed the ability to cook our food around the same time we experienced a surge in overall brain size. This would explain where we got our "extra energy" to fuel such an expensive organ. If you want to learn more about this check out "Catching Fire" by Richard Wrangham: http://www.amazon.com/Catching-Fire-Cooking-Made-Human/dp/04...
I definitely do want to learn more about this. Thank you for explaining all of this! Our species is extraordinarily special and learning about this adds a whole new level to our development and how we got here. I enjoy hearing about this in any form.
Here are a list of books worth reading to form a good base of knowledge about human evolution, and evolutionary theory more broadly: http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-First-Four-Billion-Years/dp/... http://www.amazon.ca/Lone-Survivors-Came-Humans-Earth/dp/080... http://www.amazon.ca/Wild-Cultures-Comparison-between-Chimpa... http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Jean-Baptiste-Panafieu/dp/16... http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Show-Earth-Evidence-Evolution... http://www.amazon.com/The-Ancestors-Tale-Pilgrimage-Evolutio... http://www.amazon.ca/Guns-Germs-Steel-Jared-Diamond/dp/03933... http://www.amazon.com/What-Means-98-Chimpanzee-People/dp/052... http://www.amazon.ca/Through-Window-Jane-Goodall/dp/06180567... http://www.amazon.ca/Nature-Via-Nurture-Genes-Experience/dp/... http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Time-Introduction-History-Califor...
Wow this is amazing! I've got my work cut out for me. I'll be sure to sign up for some classes pertaining to this at school as well. Thank you so much!