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Wouldn’t it be the other way: Sapiens would be the semi-divine beings bringing civilisation to the local Denisovans?

taylorfinley 5y ago
That framing gets my anti-colonialist emotions stirring. I guess it depends which myth you're more likely to subscribe to, the 'white savior' or the 'noble savage' (please don't mistake this post for advocating those tropes) Edit: Getting downvoted to hell because people are so sensitive and think I'm implying early homo sapiens were light-skinned. That's silly and I probably should have just not posted anything in a conversation like this where everyone is looking to be offended. That said I'm leaving this here for context.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  It is well possible that Sapiens were black and Denisovans white.
  - jhgb 5y ago
    It's completely irrelevant since those notions didn't even exist back then.
  - Acrobatic_Road 5y ago
    Given that denisovans evolved in asia, I don't see why they wouldn't have had lighter skin.
- frutiger 5y ago
  Yeah the Sapiens arriving into the Philippines were almost certainly dark skinned. You might want to check your biases.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - taylorfinley 5y ago
    That's so blatantly obvious I didn't even think to explain that I was attempting to draw a parallel between homo sapiens thinking homo sapiens are the 'civilizing force' and europeans thinking europeans are the 'civilizing force' Edit: for context, I am from Hawaii and as such deeply interested in the Polynesian migrations. I have taken anthropology courses on human migration patterns across the Pacific. I would laugh at anyone who suggested the early homo sapiens migrations were light-skinned.
    - decremental 5y ago
      I read threads like this and just think "I no longer have any connection to this world."
      - thatguy0900 5y ago
        More like we no longer have any connection with people who spend too long getting polarized by the internet. Go to the area in question and ask people their thoughts on how their creation myths tie into sapians, denisovians, and colonialization. I would assume you'd get alot of confused stares.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - s5300 5y ago
        You're in a place with some of the most neurodivergent people, often on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum (myself included), who also feel the need to be dwelling/posting on an online forum such as this. That said, discussions will often get exceedingly hard to understand or relate to, especially on any "normal" emotional level... Don't think anything going on here is much related to the world we live in as a whole. It's like, a representation well under 0.25% Go outside, talk with normal people if you've had a little bit much HN
- pram 5y ago
  Maybe applying contemporary ideology to legendary prehistory events that happened 30,000 years ago is boldly moronic. Makes you think.
  - taylorfinley 5y ago
    Clearly I need to break this down in to very simple terms, since people think they understand my post and clearly don't and are labeling me 'bodly moronic' because of their own misunderstanding. One person speculated that a mythical story might be evidenced by this finding, that the Denisovans might have been the civilizing divines spoken of in legend. Another person said, wouldn't it be the Sapiens that were divine? I called out my own anti-colonial bias, recognizing that my frame has me inclined to believe the first framing ('denisovians were the divines in the legend'), and then speculated that there's a spectrum of opinions one could have and which group you label 'divine and civilizing' and the other 'not-divine and un-civilized' depends on your own biases. But go on and downvote me and call me names because you've misunderstood my point.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- garmaine 5y ago
  You are getting down-voted because you are posting a knee-jerk emotional response. The poster you are originally replying to isn’t making any kind of comparison to European colonialism, you are. Then you are getting upset at your own comparison. That is not productive. For the record I interpreted the original post as saying “the legend speaks of another race coming and bringing civilization. Since the timeline is such that the denisovans were there first and the sapians came after, wouldn’t it make more sense that this is a legend told by the denisovans about sapians?”
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    > you are posting a knee-jerk emotional response You have no idea what their emotions are. Please don't go there. If something doesn't make sense to you, just ask.
    - ertian 5y ago
      He explicitly says that the 'framing' gets his emotions stirring.
tomjakubowski 5y ago
No. The time Sapiens and Denisovans would have gotten together was well before any humans had developed agriculture or civilization. Neanderthals were also in the mix in Southeast Asia.

That framing gets my anti-colonialist emotions stirring. I guess it depends which myth you're more likely to subscribe to, the 'white savior' or the 'noble savage' (please don't mistake this post for advocating those tropes) Edit: Getting downvoted to hell because people are so sensitive and think I'm implying early homo sapiens were light-skinned. That's silly and I probably should have just not posted anything in a conversation like this where everyone is looking to be offended. That said I'm leaving this here for context.

inglor_cz 5y ago
It is well possible that Sapiens were black and Denisovans white.
- jhgb 5y ago
  It's completely irrelevant since those notions didn't even exist back then.
- Acrobatic_Road 5y ago
  Given that denisovans evolved in asia, I don't see why they wouldn't have had lighter skin.
frutiger 5y ago
Yeah the Sapiens arriving into the Philippines were almost certainly dark skinned. You might want to check your biases.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- taylorfinley 5y ago
  That's so blatantly obvious I didn't even think to explain that I was attempting to draw a parallel between homo sapiens thinking homo sapiens are the 'civilizing force' and europeans thinking europeans are the 'civilizing force' Edit: for context, I am from Hawaii and as such deeply interested in the Polynesian migrations. I have taken anthropology courses on human migration patterns across the Pacific. I would laugh at anyone who suggested the early homo sapiens migrations were light-skinned.
  - decremental 5y ago
    I read threads like this and just think "I no longer have any connection to this world."
    - thatguy0900 5y ago
      More like we no longer have any connection with people who spend too long getting polarized by the internet. Go to the area in question and ask people their thoughts on how their creation myths tie into sapians, denisovians, and colonialization. I would assume you'd get alot of confused stares.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - s5300 5y ago
      You're in a place with some of the most neurodivergent people, often on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum (myself included), who also feel the need to be dwelling/posting on an online forum such as this. That said, discussions will often get exceedingly hard to understand or relate to, especially on any "normal" emotional level... Don't think anything going on here is much related to the world we live in as a whole. It's like, a representation well under 0.25% Go outside, talk with normal people if you've had a little bit much HN
pram 5y ago
Maybe applying contemporary ideology to legendary prehistory events that happened 30,000 years ago is boldly moronic. Makes you think.
- taylorfinley 5y ago
  Clearly I need to break this down in to very simple terms, since people think they understand my post and clearly don't and are labeling me 'bodly moronic' because of their own misunderstanding. One person speculated that a mythical story might be evidenced by this finding, that the Denisovans might have been the civilizing divines spoken of in legend. Another person said, wouldn't it be the Sapiens that were divine? I called out my own anti-colonial bias, recognizing that my frame has me inclined to believe the first framing ('denisovians were the divines in the legend'), and then speculated that there's a spectrum of opinions one could have and which group you label 'divine and civilizing' and the other 'not-divine and un-civilized' depends on your own biases. But go on and downvote me and call me names because you've misunderstood my point.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
garmaine 5y ago
You are getting down-voted because you are posting a knee-jerk emotional response. The poster you are originally replying to isn’t making any kind of comparison to European colonialism, you are. Then you are getting upset at your own comparison. That is not productive. For the record I interpreted the original post as saying “the legend speaks of another race coming and bringing civilization. Since the timeline is such that the denisovans were there first and the sapians came after, wouldn’t it make more sense that this is a legend told by the denisovans about sapians?”
- wolverine876 5y ago
  > you are posting a knee-jerk emotional response You have no idea what their emotions are. Please don't go there. If something doesn't make sense to you, just ask.
  - ertian 5y ago
    He explicitly says that the 'framing' gets his emotions stirring.

tomjakubowski 5y ago

No. The time Sapiens and Denisovans would have gotten together was well before any humans had developed agriculture or civilization. Neanderthals were also in the mix in Southeast Asia.