--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: our primate ancestors was the development…" description: "\"“our primate ancestors was the development of a larger cerebral cortex as well as the development of increased volume of gray-matter tissue in certain ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg" --- # our primate ancestors was the development of a larger… ![“our primate ancestors was the development of a larger cerebral cortex as well as the development of increased volume of gray-matter tissue in certain regions of the brain.32 This change occurred, however, on the very slow timescale of biological evolution and still involves an inherent” quote by Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg) > ““our primate ancestors was the development of a larger cerebral cortex as well as the development of increased volume of gray-matter tissue in certain regions of the brain.32 This change occurred, however, on the very slow timescale of biological evolution and still involves an inherent”” [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human evolution slowly expanded the brain’s cortex and gray matter, shaping cognition over millennia. **In simple terms:** Brain grew slowly over ages. Key Takeaway Recognize the long pace of biological change. Themes evolution neuroscience progress Mood analytical thoughtful Type scientific philosophical When to use this quote - education on brain science - long‑term planning - accepting gradual change Key Concepts cortical development gray‑matter expansion Questions to Reflect On - What implications does slow evolution have for future tech? - How can we accelerate understanding of brain development? A Different Perspective Evolutionary advances are limited by slow biological timescales. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Biological evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biological-evolution/) [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) ## Related quotes > [“Cizek had used art as the point of entry of his thinking into a whole new world of education—an avenue that had never occurred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-l-ackoff/cizek-had-used-art-as-the-point-of-entry-of-his-thinking-into-a-whole/) [Russell L. Ackoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-l-ackoff/) > [“The dodo itself stands as the best emblem of this general truth - that insular evolution often involves transforming an adventurous, high-flying ancestor species…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quammen-david/the-dodo-itself-stands-as-the-best-emblem-of-this-general-truth-that/) Quammen, David > [Biological evolution is too slow for the human species. Over the next few decades, it's going to be left in the dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/biological-evolution-is-too-slow-for-the-human-species-over-the-next/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The Singularity denotes an event that will take place in the material world, the inevitable next step in the evolutionary process that started with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-denotes-an-event-that-will-take-place-in-the-material/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [“To compare the rate of progress of the biological evolution of intelligence to that of technological evolution, consider that the most advanced mammals have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/to-compare-the-rate-of-progress-of-the-biological-evolution-of/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-j-futuyma/in-the-broadest-sense-evolution-is-merely-change-and-so-is-all/) Douglas J. Futuyma > [Now, humans have become a dominant force of planetary change and, thus, we may have entered an eon of post-biological evolution in which cognitive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/now-humans-have-become-a-dominant-force-of-planetary-change-and-thus/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [“Evolution is largely a temporal phenomenon, Merrill. The environment changes, and populations in that environment change in turn, or they languish. Individual organisms don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-marusek/evolution-is-largely-a-temporal-phenomenon-merrill-the-environment/) [David Marusek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-marusek/) > [“There is a Divine Providence operating over and above the materialistic happenings of biological evolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-eccles/there-is-a-divine-providence-operating-over-and-above-the/) John C. Eccles > [We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolutionary process has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-are-the-product-of-4-5-billion-years-of-fortuitous-slow-biological/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Evolution explains our biological evolution, but human beings are very unique creatures. As the Dobzhansky said, all animals are unique; humans are the uniquest.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-johanson/evolution-explains-our-biological-evolution-but-human-beings-are-very/) [Donald Johanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-johanson/) > [My colleague Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, erroneously suggested that I support the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-kennedy/my-colleague-sen-rick-santorum-pennsylvania-republican-erroneously/) [Edward Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-kennedy/) > [I seem to be a brief light that flashes but once in all the aeons of time a rare, complicated, and all-too-delicate organism on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/i-seem-to-be-a-brief-light-that-flashes-but-once-in-all-the-aeons-of/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [I am of course getting angry if biologists try to use the general concept 'chance' in order to explain phenomena which are so typical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-paul/i-am-of-course-getting-angry-if-biologists-try-to-use-the-general/) [Wolfgang Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-paul/) > [The most devastating thing though that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution. Now that we know that Adam and Eve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zindler/the-most-devastating-thing-though-that-biology-did-to-christianity/) [Frank Zindler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zindler/) ## More by Ray Kurzweil > [We are beginning to see intimations of this in the implantation of computer devices into the human body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/we-are-beginning-to-see-intimations-of-this-in-the-implantation-of/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The telephone is virtual reality in that you can meet with someone as if you are together, at least for the auditory sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-telephone-is-virtual-reality-in-that-you-can-meet-with-someone-as/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [By 2010 computers will disappear. They'll be so small, they'll be embedded in our clothing, in our environment. Images will be written directly to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/by-2010-computers-will-disappear-they-ll-be-so-small-they-ll-be/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [All different forms of human expression, art, science, are going to become expanded, by expanding our intelligence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/all-different-forms-of-human-expression-art-science-are-going-to/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [Doing real world projects is, I think, the best way to learn and also to engage the world and find out what the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/doing-real-world-projects-is-i-think-the-best-way-to-learn-and-also/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [Take death for example. A great deal of our effort goes into avoiding it. We make extraordinary efforts to delay it, and often consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/take-death-for-example-a-great-deal-of-our-effort-goes-into-avoiding/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [By the time we get to the 2040s, we'll be able to multiply human intelligence a billionfold. That will be a profound change that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/by-the-time-we-get-to-the-2040s-we-ll-be-able-to-multiply-human/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [We're democratizing the tools of creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/we-re-democratizing-the-tools-of-creativity/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [A Singularitarian is someone who understands the Singularity and has reflected on its meaning for his or her own life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-singularitarian-is-someone-who-understands-the-singularity-and-has/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [A lot of movies about artificial intelligence envision that AIs will be very intelligent but missing some key emotional qualities of humans and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-lot-of-movies-about-artificial-intelligence-envision-that-ais-will/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The key issue as to whether or not a non-biological entity deserves rights really comes down to whether or not it's conscious… Does it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-key-issue-as-to-whether-or-not-a-non-biological-entity-deserves/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [We'll be able to have very intelligent, little robots with computers going inside our bloodstream, keeping us healthy from inside, destroying cancer at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/we-ll-be-able-to-have-very-intelligent-little-robots-with-computers/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The ethical debates are like stones in a stream. The water runs around them. You haven't seen any biological technologies held up for one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-ethical-debates-are-like-stones-in-a-stream-the-water-runs-around/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [By the end of this decade, computers will disappear as distinct physical objects, with displays built in our eyeglasses, and electronics woven in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/by-the-end-of-this-decade-computers-will-disappear-as-distinct/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [As you go out to the 2040s, now the bulk of our thinking is out in the cloud. The biological portion of our brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/as-you-go-out-to-the-2040s-now-the-bulk-of-our-thinking-is-out-in-the/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) [Explore all 127 Ray Kurzweil quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) ## More Biological evolution quotes > [The most devastating thing though that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution. Now that we know that Adam and Eve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zindler/the-most-devastating-thing-though-that-biology-did-to-christianity/) [Frank Zindler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zindler/) > [I am of course getting angry if biologists try to use the general concept 'chance' in order to explain phenomena which are so typical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-paul/i-am-of-course-getting-angry-if-biologists-try-to-use-the-general/) [Wolfgang Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-paul/) > [I seem to be a brief light that flashes but once in all the aeons of time a rare, complicated, and all-too-delicate organism on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/i-seem-to-be-a-brief-light-that-flashes-but-once-in-all-the-aeons-of/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [The Singularity denotes an event that will take place in the material world, the inevitable next step in the evolutionary process that started with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-singularity-denotes-an-event-that-will-take-place-in-the-material/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [My colleague Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, erroneously suggested that I support the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-kennedy/my-colleague-sen-rick-santorum-pennsylvania-republican-erroneously/) [Edward Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-kennedy/) > [Evolution explains our biological evolution, but human beings are very unique creatures. As the Dobzhansky said, all animals are unique; humans are the uniquest.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-johanson/evolution-explains-our-biological-evolution-but-human-beings-are-very/) [Donald Johanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-johanson/) > [We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolutionary process has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-are-the-product-of-4-5-billion-years-of-fortuitous-slow-biological/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“There is a Divine Providence operating over and above the materialistic happenings of biological evolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-eccles/there-is-a-divine-providence-operating-over-and-above-the/) John C. Eccles > [“Evolution is largely a temporal phenomenon, Merrill. The environment changes, and populations in that environment change in turn, or they languish. Individual organisms don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-marusek/evolution-is-largely-a-temporal-phenomenon-merrill-the-environment/) [David Marusek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-marusek/) > [Now, humans have become a dominant force of planetary change and, thus, we may have entered an eon of post-biological evolution in which cognitive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/now-humans-have-become-a-dominant-force-of-planetary-change-and-thus/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [“To compare the rate of progress of the biological evolution of intelligence to that of technological evolution, consider that the most advanced mammals have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/to-compare-the-rate-of-progress-of-the-biological-evolution-of/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-j-futuyma/in-the-broadest-sense-evolution-is-merely-change-and-so-is-all/) Douglas J. Futuyma > [Ironically, we have even fewer examples of evolutionary transitions than we had in Darwin's time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-m-raup/ironically-we-have-even-fewer-examples-of-evolutionary-transitions/) [David M. Raup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-m-raup/) > [Evolution has just been dealt its death blow. After reading Origins of Life with my background in chemistry and physics, it is clear that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-smalley/evolution-has-just-been-dealt-its-death-blow-after-reading-origins-of/) Richard Smalley > [It is essential for evolution to become the central core of any educational system, because it is evolution, in the broad sense, that links…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-huxley/it-is-essential-for-evolution-to-become-the-central-core-of-any/) [Julian Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-huxley/) [Browse all 32 Biological evolution quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biological-evolution/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“our primate ancestors was the development of a larger cerebral cortex as well as the development of increased volume of gray-matter tissue in certain regions of the brain.32 This change occurred, however, on the very slow timescale of biological evolution and still involves an inherent”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ray Kurzweil" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/our-primate-ancestors-was-the-development-of-a-larger-cerebral-cortex/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Biological evolution" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/our-primate-ancestors-was-the-development-of-a-larger-cerebral-cortex/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/ray-kurzweil-3529_change_our-primate-ancestors-was-the-developmen_1293327.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“our primate ancestors was the development of a larger cerebral cortex as well as the development of…” — Ray Kurzweil", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ray Kurzweil", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“our primate ancestors was the development...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/our-primate-ancestors-was-the-development-of-a-larger-cerebral-cortex/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/our-primate-ancestors-was-the-development-of-a-larger-cerebral-cortex/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```