<HTML>Hi Don,
Very interesting question indeed... I think it is very human to consider humanity as 'special', hence talking about IQ, 'spark' of intelligence, etc.
'self awareness' is a bit of a general term, but I would bet it's not a binary thing at all, more like a function of recursivity in sensory input (outside or inside the brain) to cognitive centers. Since many people disagree with me on this, I have to state that it's not my intimate belief, only the result of my researchs.
If that's the case (and I'll keep talking under this "If" til the end of the message), then our consciousness (its content and what it refers to) is just one of many types of consciousness. I would agree that it would then be one of the most versatile type on this planet, but dolphins are surprizing creatures...
One key factor in 'intelligence' is how much you can anticipate. When you move your arm to reach for someting, you know you are reaching for it, you do not have to think about how much you have to rotate each joint of your shoulder or of your arm, you just reach for the object. You anticipate no problem. If there is an obstacle, you will simply avoid it. You anticipated that going through the obstacle would be painfull for your hand. All of this is unconscious, based on your experience and your knowledge of your various internal states (be it accurate or not). Anticipation is something that you can observe in most lifeforms, eventho many of them do not have a nervous system per say. Counscious anticipation and complex planning (I need to clean the cave, drive the children to flintschool, take a shower at the falls, and make dyno-dinner) necessitates a dynamic modeling of the world, and that requires a brain.
Modern humans a few thousands years ago were just as smart as we are today, they only knew a different world from which they could not have infered spaceships or microwaves. As for Cro Magnon, if indeed the hands on caves can be understood as "I was here", then the later statement might apply to them just as well.
So I guess my short answer to your question is that one is a human when one lives in the same 'consciousness frame of reference' as another human. You are human 'relative' to other humans, therefore you cannot 'evolve into humans', humanity itself evolves.
Hope I didn't delved too much off topic
Francis.</HTML>
