Wrangham’s analysis breaks new scientific ground precisely because he shows that technology has had a profound effect on the human form. In fact, its effect is so strong that it is almost impossible to separate human evolution from cultural and technological changes. To put it another way, the body you have now would not have been possible had we not invented fire. But that doesn’t mean the transitions were always smooth, or, for that matter, fast. At various points, as technology and biology altered course together, when the pace of change was too rapid, we began to suffer from evolutionary
...more
