I find archaic human paleoanthropology fascinating.\u00a0 The impact of better radioactive dating methods and now, DNA analysis has had a remarkable effect on the state of our knowledge.\u00a0 Previously poorly-dated specimens were used to justify very late dates for when Homo sapiens, his predecessor H. heidelbergensis and the even earlier H. errectus left Africa.\u00a0 More accurate information leaves it an open question whether sapiens evolved in Africa or Eurasia.\u00a0 And the presence of H. neanderthalensis and H. denisoviensis and possibly other sister species of H. sapiens scattered around in Eurasia makes the point even more acute that our species radiated and developed and then remixed inside of Eurasia.\u00a0 And the fact that all traces of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA are lacking completely in Africa only highlights the fact that Africa became a sort of isolated group of populations separate from the evolution that was taking place to the north.<\/p>\n
What strikes me as very interesting is just how quickly humans change in reaction to their environment.\u00a0 Just look around at the appearance of modern humans the world round.\u00a0 Various types of Africans, Northern Europeans, Southern Europeans, Middle Easterners, South Asians, East Asians, the Australian aborigines and the New Guineans, the Native Americans, the South Sea Islanders and many other groups have differentiated from each other over the course of not millions of years but thousands.\u00a0 Our hair, eyes, skin, the shapes of our faces and many other traits have changed in order to adapt to our environments.\u00a0 Even something as fundamental as blood types are affected.\u00a0 We are an adaptable species.\u00a0 And I think that because of human squeamishness we have been less than logical with our designation of what is a species, subspecies or race when it comes to man.<\/p>\n
After all, we\u2019ve managed to crowd all of the \u201craces\u201d of man into one species without the thought of sub-specifying ourselves.\u00a0 But the Neanderthals and Denisovans (whom we know bred with humans) we kick into separate species altogether.\u00a0 That seems a bit much.\u00a0 I remember in old books we sometimes saw Homo sapiens neanderthalensis as a subspecies of ours.\u00a0 Surely our \u201ckissing cousins\u201d deserve at least that small a consideration for providing us with a few percentages of our genetic material (not to mention red hair!).<\/p>\n
In general, I\u2019m not willing to toss any of our closest relatives under the bus.\u00a0 H. heidelbergensis and H. errectus were present in Eurasia for a very long time along with these later editions and what seems reasonable is that the same kind of interbreeding and intergradations occurred at earlier times spawning other \u201cspecies\u201d of Homo that we either can\u2019t distinguish or haven\u2019t found yet.\u00a0 And whether these archaic humans met in the Mediterranean or the more northern regions the same kind of mixing and changing was going on.<\/p>\n
So, man is ever-changing and since our brain is our defining facet it makes sense that changes in our brains is where we\u2019ll see evolution hard at work.\u00a0 The only question is whether this evolution will be untrammeled or will it be directed.\u00a0 Artificial intelligence is the prize that technologists and industrialists tout as the future.\u00a0 Will our brains be replaced with silicon?\u00a0 Will we be turned into zoo animals that eventually will be euthanized when we\u2019ve been rendered powerless?<\/p>\n
I tend to think not.\u00a0 I\u2019m betting on the hominins.\u00a0 For all our bad habits and shortcomings (and there are many) I think there is a greatness in our line.\u00a0 I think we can still find our purpose on this planet.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t want to disown any of our kin here on Earth.\u00a0 We fight each other and hate each other for our differences and just because we want each other\u2019s stuff.\u00a0 But that is part of being human.\u00a0 We still have time to figure out a way to get along regardless of all our differences.\u00a0 And as our brains get stronger so we will.\u00a0 We have some important fate ahead of us.\u00a0 And I doubt that it involves becoming Eloi to Silicon-Morlocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I find archaic human paleoanthropology fascinating.\u00a0 The impact of better radioactive dating methods and now, DNA analysis has had a remarkable effect on the state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1263,3545],"tags":[1148,5076,3150,3149],"class_list":["post-35176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-science","tag-ancient-dna","tag-archaic-humans","tag-hominins","tag-human-evolution"],"yoast_head":"\n