Re-thinking human evolution… again

Disturbing to some, heresy to others, our thinking on evolution has evolved. (I would like to say “evolved again” but that would be redundant.) If you understand evolution this should come as no surprise, but it may be time to rethink how we treat the other species on this planet. In the meantime, Matthew Wright, shares an update.

Matthew Wright

I have been fascinated of late with the way our understanding of human evolution has forged ahead in leaps and bounds.

This year alone we’ve discovered that Homo naledi, the previously unknown ‘archaic’ species that was discovered in a South African cave, was still going just 250,000 years ago and – very likely – had the ability to speak. We’ve also found evidence that the ‘Hobbits’ of Flores Island aren’t a diminutive of ‘Java Man’, Homo erectus, but likely descended from a different branch of the human family tree. And there’s the discovery that our own species, Homo sapiens, likely dates back at least 250,000 years.

What all this adds up to is that the old idea of progressive one-thread evolution from ape to man, in which each type was wholly replaced by the next, is right out the window.

Human evolution as ‘progress’, public domain, via…

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