The benefits of learning must have been enormous for evolution to have overcome those costs, Dr. Kawecki argues. For many animals, learning mainly offers a benefit in finding food or a mate. But humans also live in complex societies where learning has benefits, as well.
“If you’re using your intelligence to outsmart your group, then there’s an arms race,” Dr. Kawecki said. “So there’s no absolute optimal level. You just have to be smarter than the others.”
As is said of biologists earlier in this article, I've often asked myself why humans are so damn intelligent. This gives the most poignant answer I've seen so far: not to outsmart the environment so much as to outsmart each other.
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