Human Origins Theory Tested By Recent Findings 272
annamadrigal writes "The BBC news is reporting on findings presented in Nature which suggest that Homo Erectus and H. Habilis were in fact sister species which co-existed. This challenges the view that the upright humans evolved from the tool users."
That's what I don't understand in TFA. (Score:4, Interesting)
Humans and other primates have shared the same areas ever since there were humans. Yet we have only recently started wiping out other primates. And it isn't because we are competing with them for the food sources. We wipe out their environment, food sources and all.
So there thing about "Eventually, one would have out-competed the other." doesn't sound right. "Eventually", maybe. But to say that any conclusions can be derived simply because it had not happened in X years
Re:Homo Mormonus (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I'm not sure I see the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Now if only an actual anthropologist would pick up on that idea...
Cohabitation, not just for monkeys (Score:3, Interesting)
In my theory of evolution, it's not so much that "the fittest survive," but that "those that fit survive." There's a feedback loop that occurs in the environment. Those that benefit themselves, others, and the environment as a whole tend to survive and evolve more readily than those that form an adversarial relationship to others and the environment.
Monkeys still exist because there have been - and remain - plenty of habitats that are beneficial to them, and they're very adaptable to new environments. Long after Humans have engineered all remaining environments into complete unsuitability, monkeys will likely still remain, because they manage to survive on just the detritus of our habitats. And being smaller, their energy needs are far less.
In the present case of "tool users" versus "upright walkers" other posts have been spot-on. They had little effect on one another and each adapted well to their given environment. And as the lined article points out just fine, tool use and upright walking were not mutually exclusive developments. It's hardly a big stretch for any being of a certain level of sentience to see the parallel between the hands at the ends of their arms and the tools in their hands. From the point of view of any being of reasonable sentience, they are both automatically objectified into things-to-be-used.
It has long been understood that evolution tends towards less specialization and more generalization as environments rapidly change and become more diverse and challenging, and as species range further. The necessity of mental abstraction and self-alienation will become more evident as we delve into our more recent evolution. (And from this will come insights into the need for our so-called "religious practices" that semi-moderate this alienation. But that's a topic for another day!)
Re:I wonder... (Score:2, Interesting)
Chimps seem to be successful in thier own niche and deviations from the existing plan dont help chimps reproduce. My guess is that early humans we unable to carve out thier own niche and we constantly pushed from thier niches by more specialized animals. We were then forced to specialize in being the animal to rapidly make use of whatever niches were available. In this context, intelligence is a definite advantage, hence the evolutionary pressure for larger brain size, cooperation, clothes, agriculture, etc, i.e. the things that make us different than chimps.
Cain and Abel (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Been there, done that. (Score:3, Interesting)
Einstein predicted a certain bending of light in terms of the general "predicted theory of relativity and it was not proven to be absolutely spot on until the 1960's, I believe. So the science "predicted fact" is recognized as valid ("true") after the prediction is fulfilled.
But there are extant copies of things like Isaiah (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) that include nearly word for word what the Masoretic text used in the KJV holds, and some of the prophecies in Isaiah are fulfilled long after the DSS were placed in the caves. Or much of the book of Daniel -- which not only correctly foretells the decline of the Persion empire(s) but the rise later of the Greek, still later the Roman, and then a bunch of little kingdoms, some strong, some weak. (the feet of iron and clay), for example. Predates the rise of the little kingdoms...
So if the predictions in the OT are evaluated after the fact, --and the source document predates the fulfillment of the "prophecy", it's the same method as science is using and therefore equally valid as "truth".
Re:Been there, done that. (Score:3, Interesting)
The latest accepted date for the book of Daniel is still pre-Christian era, and still pre-date Julius Caesar's dictatorship/declaration of "emporer" etc around 44 BC) to around 106 AD, and the break of of big empires into little kingdoms could not have been predicted, as the history of the region from around the time of Nebuchadnezzar (sp?) through the Roman Empire was a history of empire following empire following empire. There would have been no reason for anyone to assume that this would not continue, and instead devolve into strong and weak nations interspersed with each other, as happened in Europe and the Mediterranean and Middle east areas post- pax-Romana.
Therefore Daniel's interpretation of the dream and the idol was and is both specific, correct, and prophetic. And hard to ignore-- believe me I tried.