Big heads and brains

[Glossopswift]

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Do we (humans) walk upright because we have big brains/heavy heads and need to be able to balance, or did we walk upright first which enabled us to develop big brains/heavy heads and therefore be jolly clever and invent things like Marmite and calculators that fit on a wrist watch? Which happened first? I'm no scientist.

[burnhal]

Maybe its because we needed to use hands which is a bit difficult if you trundle around on all fours

[stanleyman]

Its because when we were younger and then in the army we were told to stand up straight, later on its to keep our hands clean and make sure our clothes hang properly. Just think of the space you could save by walking on all fours, my bungalow could be a two story house!

[logman]

I dont think its got much to do with big heavy heads, look at lions, bulls, hippo's for example, they'r still running around on all fours. Maybe man started walking upright because he got fed up with stepping on his hair, i cant think of any animals other than humans that have hair that keeps on growing. It must have been very hard times before they invented barbers or cutting tools ! Where can i get wrist marmite ?

[drgnrdr]

Read "Clan of the Cave Bear", by Jean M Auel, the books are great insight into when we were cave dwellers and how some evolved to the better and others didn't like change. I think we started to stand up for a better view of the surroundings, also it enabled us to run faster to catch prey. Some of us invented things out of neccessity and others out of chance, (fire: stone struck rock, spark etc...) We started to use our brains more, exercised them, and on and on...~/:\~

[qapmoc]

Many animals can walk upright but they did not develop it as a permanent way of life. The usual ''apeman came down from the trees and walked'', what a load of old rubbish, why would they, there is no reason too. All animals can run faster on four legs than anything can on two so thats no advantage either. It is obvious that all evolution in species only takes place when it is a forced change.
The theory of life on land as ''fish moved out of the sea and learned to live on land'' again why would they? It is obvious that the fish did not move on to the land but that the opposite happened - somewhere there were fish and the sea went away (dried up, changed level, who knows) and the fish were FORCED to live on dry land. It must be the same for the first pre-humans, they lived somewhere that they were FORCED to walk upright, maybe the opposite happened to them, that their dry land became a shallow sea and they had to stand up to survive.

If you are open to a different view of human evolution than the same old one repeated by everyone then read THIS for a different view of the subject.