When did humans like us originate?

[Measure_for_Measure]

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Evidence for Neanderthal (and other early human) language?

It seems to me that I have come across the claim in a number of places , now, that Neanderthal Man probably had language, comparable to modern human language. The only source for this that I can now pinpoint is a talk I heard given by Stephen Mithen in 2003, and presumably it is also in his 2005 book (which I have not read), of which his talk was (I think) a sort of precis. However, I am sure I have come across the claim in other places since, very possibly including these boards. I have an idea…

How do humans anatomically differ from other great apes?

In what ways do humans anatomically differ from other great apes like orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees or bonobos? What evolutionary pressures drove these changes? What advantages do they provide? Let me start with a few which you can comment on or add to: 1: Having a small amount of fur and sweating mean unusually effective cooling which enables persistence hunting and more hours of activity. 2: Bipedalism freed up two limbs to carry objects and use tools. There may be other advantages like…

How long would it take for two human populations to become a distinct species?

Say in the far future a population of 1000 humans apiece were somehow transported to the planets Zig and Zog (both of which have a mysteriously Earth-like environment and are on opposite sides of a galaxy) and lost communication with each other. How many generations would it take before either planet’s inhabitants can be considered a separate species from the other (assuming the environment is identical on both and both have the same level of technology)? How would it be decided that they were …

Were there benefits to humans moving out of Africa into cold areas?

Africa seems like it was a pretty good place to be. You didn’t have to worry about being cold anywhere near as much as in Europe, North-ish Asia or North America. The expansion could have happened while staying within warm areas like the Middle-East, India or Indochina. Besides simply having more people and land, were there benefits to going into areas where the cold could be dangerous for long periods of the year? “Humans” here encompasses all species of the homo genus. “Cold” here means not …

Was the Agricultural Revolution a mistake?

Been reading Sapiens and the author argues that the Agricultural Revolution, one of the most significant events of our species, was bad for individual people and more bad than good for humans despite allowing bigger populations. He argues that for the average person, farming required more work and was more dependent on weather and insects than hunting. That having fixed settlements made them vulnerable to stronger groups. That farming left less free time and led to more dependence on fewer pl…

Envisioning 250,000 years.

I understand that high-level nuclear waste must be kept isolated for a a quarter million years. I would like some help envisioning that. I think we can agree that a quarter million years in evolution is nothing at all, right? On the other hand human civilization is about seven thousand years old, so a quarter million years is a lot by that measure. How about in plate tectonics? How old are mountains and stuff? Can anyone help me understand how long this is?

Language: If whales had it, would we know?

If whales sang love sonnets or expositions on philosophy and mathematics to one another, would we know about it? I suppose that this is a signal processing problem: given what we know about whales’ listening and vocalization abilities, is there an upper bound to the complexity of what they could be saying to one another? Ditto for elephants.