One of the key arguments against intelligent design is that as a species we humans aren't designed well. For example: child birth, due to the narrow birthing canal and huge heads of our offspring, can quite often be fatal. The fact that our esophagus and trachea stem from same opening poses risk of choking hazard. The appendix's only job appears to be getting infected. 

So my question is what would an intelligently designed human look like? Are our organs in their optimal place? Is there any thing we could stand to loose/gain? 

Imagine an IQ test could be taken back through time. We know the average score will be 100 now. How long would we have to go back in time for this average to drop significantly.(see note)

What I'm asking is when humans reached the current level of intelligence. Was it a century ago? A generation ago? Or were the men who painted in Lascaux just as intelligent as us?

Note: I realise that every IQ test returns an average of 100 when performed on a population of people. I'm just using this as an illustration.

Dog breeding often gets a bad press, including the apparently unfounded assertion that breeding for looks has an adverse effect on intelligence in dogs.

But has anyone ever bred dogs, or any other species, purely for intelligence? Just how intelligent could any species get through selective breeding? And how quickly?

John Schofield, London, UK

(Image: bobike, stock.xchng)