Ah the hubris of man.
Intelligence is not necessary for survival as many many unintelligent orgnisms have been around and thrived for far longer than we. What is "necessary" for survival is an adpativity to that creature's surroundings. Ants are not very intelligen but adherence to a few simple rules have managed have them do quite well.
As for the rest? do you understand the complex communications of trees? whales? other primates? We did not turn out so different than any of our primate cousins or any other mammal either The polar bear is quite comfortable with his furs in the deepest of winters. I can imagine the highly intelligent crow wondering from his high purch or his glide over us all "how is it that man never evolved to fly, after all flight enables us to travel hundreds of miles in a day for our food, and to escape our predators".
It is all a matter of persepctive.
I agree with pretty much all of that, however, I can find no logical conclusion that would allow for our species, ALONE, to develop the ability to understand and manipulate fire when we did.
It just doesn't make sense.
Compare any biological species within a genus and you find that the intelligence levels are relatively streamlined, as is the use of tools, if any. This shows that nature is a lazy bitch that likes to repeat herself, and this repetition is also reflected in the cosmos, as evidenced by the multitude of stars and galaxies that share many of the same characteristics. Why did OUR species deviate from the "norms" found in nature when we came from the very same nature that produced everything else?
Polar bears, hell, BEARS developed fat layers and fur to keep warm. That makes sense and jives with everything else in nature. Humans, however, developed clothing and the use of fire instead. That's not natural, and no other species on the planet took that route. That intellectual and technological leap just seems far too large to be "natural", as no other species took that same route, or has taken it since.
The seemingly "exceptional" route our species has taken seems way, way, WAY out of place compared with our peers in the animal kingdom, and it is this "exceptionalism" that leads me to believe that evolution is only PART of the story concerning our species.
Granted, I could very well be giving our species FAR more credit than we deserve concerning "intelligence", but it seems to me that we are the proverbial square peg on a planet of round holes.
