How did the human species come to achieve a dominant position over all the others? What biological characteristics enabled man to rise above the primitive subsistence of the animals and create culture, civilization, and progress? Evidence provided by comparing humans to other primates and humanoid ancestors provides part of the answer.

The analysis of evolutionary biology enables us to discern the characteristics that render man a unique and dominant entity. In comparing the jaw of the gorilla to that of Australopithecus, a human forebear, it is possible to note a reduction in overall jaw size as well as the size of teeth. This reduction is further evident when analyzing the human jaw.

Human beings have lost the gargantuan lower jaw canines that characterized their primate ancestors, but have gained instead an impressively large brain, greater compared to body size than possessed by any other species.

This suggests a shift in a fundamental mode of life; rather than relying on brute force to rip apart their prey (which would be the logical purpose of massive canines), human beings learned to use tools as extensions of their bodies and more efficient methods of obtaining sustenance. No longer were they required to lunge at their prey and potentially expose their heads to danger; they could stab or throw a weapon from a distance. The deliberate use of the intellect, first found in early humans, granted them an advantage that the physically strongest and most imposing of animals could not match.

The rational mind sets apart man from the animals to a far greater extent than any physical characteristic, however. As demonstrated by genome analyses, humans and chimpanzees have a genetic code that is 99 percent identical, and many amino acid sequences are virtually indistinguishable between these two organisms.

Yet still an unbridgeable gulf separates these two species since, while one thinks and adapts the environment to itself, the other behaves automatically and adapts to its environment. While the chimpanzee still relies primarily on the brute force of its muscles to obtain all it needs to survive, man has shifted fundamentally to using his mind as the means of obtaining and increasing his sustenance.

It would be interesting to perform an analysis of the slight differences in the genetic codes of humans and chimpanzees to determine which precise parts of the genome in man account for his rationality. Given the overwhelming genetic similarity between man and chimpanzee, it may be possible to someday genetically engineer chimpanzees that are able to absorb and process information at a human level.

G. Stolyarov II is a science fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, contributor to Enter Stage Right, Le Quebecois Libre,  Rebirth of Reason, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Senior Writer for The Liberal Institute, weekly columnist for GrasstopsUSA.com, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov also publishes his articles on Helium.com and Associated Content to assist the spread of rational ideas. His newest science fiction novel is Eden against the Colossus. His latest non-fiction treatise is A Rational Cosmology. His most recent play is Implied Consent. Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted at gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com.

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Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here..

Read Mr. Stolyarov's new comprehensive treatise, A Rational Cosmology, explicating such terms as the universe, matter, space, time, sound, light, life, consciousness, and volition, here.

Read Mr. Stolyarov's new four-act play, Implied Consent, a futuristic intellectual drama on the sanctity of human life, here.