"Run the Tape Again"
Run the tape again, and let the tiny twig of Homo sapiens expire in Africa. Other hominids may have stood on the threshold of what we know as human possibilities, but many sensible scenarios would never generate our level of mentality. Run the tape again, and this time Neanderthal perishes in Europe and Homo erectus in Asia (as they did in our world). The sole surviving human stock, Homo erectus in Africa, stumbles along for a while, even prospers, but does not speciate and therefore remains stable. A mutated virus then wipes Homo erectus out, or a change in climate reconverts Africa into inhospitable forest. One little twig on the mammalian branch, a lineage with interesting possibilities that were never realized, joins the vast majority of species in extinction. So what? Most possibilities are never realized, and who will ever know the difference? Arguments of this form lead me to the conclusion that biology's most profound insight into human nature, status, and potential lies in the simple phrase, the embodiment of contingency: Homo sapiens is an entity, not a tendency.
Notes:
We are here by luck, not fate.
Folksonomies: history evolution meaning
Taxonomies:
/travel/tourist destinations/africa (0.601215)
/science/biology/zoology/endangered species (0.341026)
/travel/tourist destinations/europe (0.323332)
Keywords:
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Entities:
Homo sapiens:FieldTerminology (0.921954 (negative:-0.342168)), Africa:Continent (0.466234 (negative:-0.377908)), Asia:Continent (0.223189 (negative:-0.339719)), Europe:Country (0.218215 (negative:-0.339719))
Concepts:
Human (0.974060): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Homo erectus (0.589528): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Human evolution (0.571138): dbpedia | freebase
Africa (0.548432): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Neanderthal (0.498688): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago | geonames
Evolution (0.469217): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Species (0.425306): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Homo ergaster (0.414581): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Wonderful life