Genetic malfunction coupled regular inherited traits.
That's why we have sexual reproduction; more genetic variation.

1st: You mean 'Post'. Not 'Thread'.
2nd: If you're going to attempt to correct someone, make sure your own post is legible, and not a stupid rant. Also, despite your disclaimer, you were being a jerk.
3rd: Lucerin Red CAN be against the concept of benevolent genetic mutation (i.e. evolution) in that he, oh say, DOESN'T belive that it occurs. He wasn't arguing the issue, however. He merely stated his belife. So, uh, ease up.
4th: It helps your point, not to prove someone else's point for them, as your entire last paragraph has done. (The last sentence "you just have to have faith that we're working it out" notwithstanding... like, at all).


On Topic:
I, too, don't belive in evolution, but for the sake of discussion, I'd doubt that an inteligence on par with the human brain would arise in that scenario. Doesn't seem nessecery in the natural world, and humans have been the only creatures to exhibit brain activity that is this sophisticated. It seems that some are eager to point to animal inteligence, and that is fine, but from what I've learned, nothing compares to the complexity of the human brain by a long shot, and even if I belived in evolution, I still don't think anything ever would.

As far as dominant/most inteligent life forms though... that'd be a tough call. Aquatic mammals seem like prime canidates - Dolphins, Seals, Orca whales, and the like. Except for apes, most land animals don't seem to have much more to go on than instinct and 'cute'.

I think I'm still waiting for the majority of the human race to become the current intelligent life on this planet....

*rimshot*

Given enough time, ability to breed and produce viable offspring, survive conditions and predators and the like, I'd have to go with... one of the many species of parrot. They live for long periods of time, can learn new patterns as well as communications, are somewhat omnivorous, and are very intelligent (as far as "sub-human" goes) already.

Didn'y you read my post? My racoons will totally eat your parrots before they get a chance to evolve!

Ok, maybe not (racoons eat tiny songbirds, like budgies and sparrows), but still, there's a lot of animals that have the capacity for evolving sapient intelligence, which is really the ability to question. Surface area of the brain counts for this, since coherent thought occurs on the cerebral cortex, and a humans, when stretched out, covers like two square meters (hence all the wrinkly bits). A parrot's brain would have to expand considerably for that, a racoons less so. Sea mammals already have the brain mass thing down, but unless a different type of neural structure develops, I think it's going to have to go to an animal that already has the brain size taken care off. Think.... giant raccoons doing cute things in their OWN garbace cans!

Uhh... Ya.

I think aquatic animals can have the brains but not the mobilty. They can't come on land. W don't have to fear them. Unless they evolve legs and a breathing system on land.

Humans get the land, fish get the sea, and the parrots get the air.

maybe in the future, the octopi shall transform into Illithid-like creatures, sentient, but on only able to live underwater(or cross the surface in short bursts) with a second inteligent speices surviving on the surface.

also, I am against evolution as well. HOWEVER: the point of this thread is NOT to post our beliefs. I posted mine to be THE LAST ONE hopefully. there is a BAN on posting religous discussions. since the basis is either a) we came from animals, B) we came from aliens, or c) we came from god, it's not possible to discuss evolution beliefs without bringing religon into it. I believe attempting to disprove religon would count as well. so no more talk about whether it could or couldn't happen, let's try talking about some of the random life forms that might result hypothetically.

my money is on octupi and Raccoons forming an alliance in the far future to destroy the parrot people of Mojo-bijawa.

probably, once you removed all primates, you'd have mollusks, MAYBE, but the way things are going, with that bonobo chim, Kanzi, it seems likely that in several thousand years, humans will be something else, and chimp-type things will become more like humans.

For those who don't know, Kanzi is a chimp who can use a pictographic language to communicate with people, and by some bizarre twist of fate, managed to spontaneously gain the ability to understand auditory english.
There's a philosopher called Leibniz who believed that there was a heirarchy of minds in which stuff like grass are sentient, animals are sentient and have memory, and humans are sentient with memory, rationality, and reflection. So, if you take that in mind, you could say that Kanzi has managed to fall somewhere between humans and animals.
My theory is that certain animals haven't got the physical capacities to be like humans, yet are standing on a neverending staircase that goes up an evolutionary pathway, or somesuch. Maybe you'll understand, I'm not sure I've worded y thoughts correctly.

edit: please note that I have not at any point mentioned religion, and that I do not talk about the origins of anything, simply the future of some things. Though I find it hard to believe that anyone could deny the fact that things change.

Things change, but the fact is evolution has never been proven using the scientific method. (Please keep in mind that I believe in evolution, and am a Rational Deist). DNA has been examined, intermediary species have been discovered, but the fact is there are some parts of the human body which could not have evolved. They are simply too complex in their entirety to have evolved from a lesser state. Cilia are a good example... they are essentially functional microscopic living organisms, and yet they are a part of our basic cellular structure. They are so complex that they could not have evolved one piece at a time... missing one organelle renders the entire structure useless. This is something seen where microorganisms form colonies which eventually turn into life forms like cilia, but that can't have happene, since cilia are coded into our DNA.

I'm not saying I'm a creationist, I'm just saying the questions havent all been answered.

Just so that we don't start/continue presenting our points in such a way that will get all of our butts banned, and this thread closed, I hereby declare that I have discovered a loophole.

Do not DISCUSS religious or evolutionary issues.
First off, the thread topic indicates that you must suspend your disbelief if you don't believe in evolution. It's a thread about the evolution of octopi for crud's sake. No need to argue creationism in a thread about evolution. It's like a declaration of war.
Keep in mind that this is the General Discussion forum, not the Discussion forum. If the first post suggests something you don't agree with, rather than post your disagreement, simply ignore the post. OR, be a nice person and humour them. You're trying to add to the topic, not refute it.

Secondly (here's the loophole) As Brian said in his post in the discussion forum, there is to be no discussion of religion. He says that you don't have to abandon all talk of religion. So, my theory is that if you feel you MUST say something about your religion, say it, but don't contrast it with something someone else said. Y'see that constitutes discussion. Sadly, this thrusts anyone who wants to mention their religion into a vast pile of non-sequitors (the not funny kind). That said, it'd probably be easier not to mention religion at all.

If someone with a better understanding of the rules wants to put me in my place, that's fine. this thread may belong in the discussion forum as it is. It may also be prime for a closing, as the topic has sort of fallen into a tubesock of destruction...or rather, has gone slightly off-topic.

You say the next smart life? Well, I wouldn't call humans smart, looking at the world at the moment...