> There was then no need for the level of intelligence needed for space travel.  Luckily the genes survived. 

Hi there,

While I catch your drift, there is another significant factor which needs to be acknowledged. While our ancestors may have been as smart as we are, there are two other factors that brought us to where we are now. 

One, the assemblage of the body of knowledge, over thousands of years. Without the ability to pass information from generation to generation, and finally to archive it in books, we may not have gotten out of the caves. 

Second, the large numbers of minds working together constitute a collective intelligence that surpasses anything that this planet has every had. 

Finally, nobody has identified a single gene that codes for a single trait. Traits are the combination of all the so-called genes, expressed in human bodies which are subjected to a wide range of environmental influences. 

So when people say "that's who I am, it's in my DNA" they don't really know what they are talking about. We may all have the potential to be rocket scientists, but those that are didn't get there without a lot of tech support. 

Pete

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