Sure we did. Not from any modern families, but apes still evolved from the common ancestor of new world and old world monkeys, being closer to the latter. We can be pretty sure that would have been a tailed simian, very much the sort of animal that would be called a monkey if alive today.
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I guess, if you want to over-analyse my quip, nothing is āmore evolvedā than anything else in the world today: evolution happens to every species constantly. The coelacanths of today are not duplicates of the coelacanths of the Cretaceous, for example, and todayās sharks are not the same as the sharks of earlier ages. So, no, Americans are as evolved as Europeans, Africans and Asians. 
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(Although this is one of those things that sounds so true and right and pithy that it makes me wonder if we accept it too readily.)
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Itās the opposite of ants. An ant is dumb. Ants are clever.
Maybe any large assembly of individuals will converge to the same general level of intelligence - up for ants, down for humans.
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[ edit: i so rarely like the āyou are not so smartā podcast, but this is one of the good ones. thereās also this book, which i think is mentioned in the podcast.
]
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If crowds are so smart, then please explain the election candidates. Also please explain the success of tough-on-crime approaches and āantiterrorismā and security theatre in general.
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how are these related? people are selecting from the candidates given to them. the candidates that rise to the top are those with the most well known names, connections, andā¦ money.
the rise of big money in politics, and its link to gerrymandering is toxic to good governance.
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In fairnessā¦ any asshole can become a candidate.
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Be careful what you wish for. Adaptation may lead to loss of function as the energy cost of parts exceeds their utility. This is how you get tapeworms. If Americans were āmore evolvedā, that might just mean smaller brains and more efficient parasitism.
[edit - I seem to have explained the Republican Party using evolutionary theory.]
[edit edit - to be even handed, it also explains why so many politicians of all parties rapidly lose things that might weaken their fitness for the role - their moral compasses being the first piece of deadweight over the side.]
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And now Gavin Smythe has an Australian ally.
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The Australian government should just go ahead and fire the rest of the CSIRO and give Warnie a lab coat.
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