Neural Networks could be how Intelligence Evolved

From Scientific American, is an article pertaining to the brain and the evolution of intelligence through working with others to complete a task. This was suggested based on a computer simulation that shows neural networks "learning" to work together. These results support a theory of social interactions being the root cause of brain development in human ancestors. Researcher Luke McNally said "it is the transition to a cooperative group that can lead to maximum selection for intelligence." This would explain why the technical cave man, who usually did things alone, became more civilized and learned that with others, more was accomplished.

The reason that the brain could have evolved from this acitivty is because neural networks send signals to one another, and reproduce random mutations and extra neurons, which was all simulated via computer. The researches used two difference scenarios to test the computers and how the brain would evolve. This scenarios were then tested with 50,000 generations of neural networks were experiment, and "intelligence" was measured by the number of nodes after each play. This article caught my attention because we never think of how we have evolved to our current standing. We know the physical differences, as well as the differences of our brain, but we do not fully understand how we have gotten here.