More complex life forms with higher overall intelligence tend to prey on lesser life forms for food and survival. In general, the more complex an animal is, the more intelligent it will be, and the more likely that it will be predator rather than prey. This same phenomenon exists on a microscopic scale down to the simplest of life forms. There are obvious exceptions, i.e., viruses prey on other life forms by invading existing animal or plant cells, stealing nutrient, and overtaking their normal directive mechanisms.

The evolution of intelligence began very slowly but has been accelerating with time. It evolved slowly because the competitive edge given to any single organism was only very slight.

An organism's IQ could be thought of as a measure of its overall ability to compete successfully for survival. It reflects the total amount of preprogrammed information and learning potential that an organism possesses, and which aids in its adaptation to unpredictable eventualities.

This property of self-generating complexity that intelligence seems to possess is very much dependent upon the ability of an organism to pass on to its offspring any increased information. This does occur in all animals and plants, just as faster-running thoroughbred horses can be selectively bred. It has been adequately shown that highly intelligent parents will have a statistically greater chance of conceiving children who likewise are above average in intelligence. This in fact is accomplished by the genes, which carry the blueprint for an organism's intelligence system.

If through chance mutation an organism is born more intelligent than its parent, this increased intelligence will be passed on to some of its offspring if it survives long enough to reproduce. Not all of its offspring will be endowed with the higher level of intelligence, and those who don't inherit it will be at greater risk relative to competition for survival. This produces a positive pressure that gradually forces the upward evolution of intelligence.

It seems reasonable to conclude that any present-day organism would be intellectually superior to its ancestors in a variety of ways. As all life forms evolve, competition for survival should become more intense at all levels of existence, thus resulting in the need for still greater increases in complexity. If the principles of evolving intelligence hold true, then it stands to reason that they should apply universally to all life forms. This phenomenon would be very difficult if not impossible to determine. For example, there is no way to accurately judge a prehistoric animal's intelligence level. Comparing relative cranial size gives only a rough approximation of intelligence. Prehistoric horses have skeletons which are as different from present-day horses as those of prehuman primates are compared to man. We still call them horses, but were they as intelligent? Prehuman primates certainly were not as intelligent as present-day man.

The early intelligence systems, and those in simple life forms of today, are basically automatic response machines with very little adaptive learning mechanism. Their intelligence systems react automatically to virtually all environmental challenges. Great as the difference is between simple life forms and man, there is still one common denominator, the "instinct for survival." Its extreme importance must not be underestimated as a main source of positive pressure for the upward evolution of intelligence.

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