This week I learned about the Machiavellian Hypothesis.

That the reason our brains got so big was a runaway competition.

Everyone has an incentive to have a slight edge over their competitor to outwit them.

But the ability to outwit a competitor is relative, so as your competitor does it too, you have to invest more to beat them again.

A red queen dynamic that, on an absolute basis, left us with big ole brains that we could then use to have power over the world.