The origin(s)
Recent evidence of human occupation of Sahul, in close proximity of today's Papua New Guinea (PNG), nearly 50,000 years ago, may open up a debate on the hypothesis of systematic migration of homo-sapiens out of Africa against the multi-regional hypothesis. The possibility of humans mingling with Neanderthals and the possible remingling of the mixed race back with humans at approximately in the same time frame, further complicates the story. Although the human genome shows a remarkably uninteresting lack of diversity, it is unclear if the idea of a singular origin can be fully defended.
Biological systems appear to be the product of software and hardware – with the environment playing a significant role in the end outcome. Although the focus has been the adaptation of hardware to the environment through random mutations, it is equally important to think about how the software – culture, knowledge and societal designs – had an equally important role to play. It appears that if one sticks a rock in the hands of a bipedal hominid, in the comfort of a society, in most cases, a tool of some sort comes out. This is irrespective of the DNA (hardware) as sufficient evidence exists that even the great apes had tools at their disposal. So, tool-making, as most humans proudly hold as uniquely human, is not a function of the hardware but that of the software.
Convergence of designs, thus, may be fundamentally driven by the environment rather than by the DNA. The fact that nearly 7 billion of the modern humans – look and act the same, does not necessarily mean that they originated from a singular point. Differing designs kept in a uniform environment for long enough periods may render them indistinguishable because of software adaptation.
Biological systems appear to be the product of software and hardware – with the environment playing a significant role in the end outcome. Although the focus has been the adaptation of hardware to the environment through random mutations, it is equally important to think about how the software – culture, knowledge and societal designs – had an equally important role to play. It appears that if one sticks a rock in the hands of a bipedal hominid, in the comfort of a society, in most cases, a tool of some sort comes out. This is irrespective of the DNA (hardware) as sufficient evidence exists that even the great apes had tools at their disposal. So, tool-making, as most humans proudly hold as uniquely human, is not a function of the hardware but that of the software.
Convergence of designs, thus, may be fundamentally driven by the environment rather than by the DNA. The fact that nearly 7 billion of the modern humans – look and act the same, does not necessarily mean that they originated from a singular point. Differing designs kept in a uniform environment for long enough periods may render them indistinguishable because of software adaptation.
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