5 ms·

>Since the last ice age we've been dropping like flies. In fact, we're the only humans left. I was under the impression that was our doing. All of these human

by softg 3y ago

>Since the last ice age we've been dropping like flies. In fact, we're the only humans left. I was under the impression that was our doing. All of these human varieties were outcompeted by homo sapiens who replaced them. Modern humans don't need to worry about another hominid taking their place because we're the last one standing.

shakezula 3y ago
We’re so good at it we’re going to outcompete ourselves in fact
rhelz 3y ago
It's one possible theory, and no doubt, at the very least, it was part of the reason they died. But that's not the only smoking gun. E.g. For at least 200k years, we can tell by fossils from the middle east that we made many attempts to spread to Europe, but were always pushed back. Fun fact: Neanderthals actually had substantially bigger brains that we do today (their average size was about 1400-1500ccs. Subtract the volume of a tennis ball from that and you'll get the average size of our brains today). Neanderthals were smart, tough, mofos. So what changed 50k years ago which finally let us succeed? Well, the climate was warming from the last ice age, and Neanderthals were very much cold-adapted hominids. Their short, stocky legs and heavy muscular arms were great at sneaking through the woods and stabbing a deer with a spear, but when the climate changed the woods disappeared, those short legs, hauling a very heavy upper-body musculature, were not so good at running the deer down on a plain. Honestly, we have no real definitive answer to why we are here and they aren't. Like anything else, probably it was a complicated process in which lots of factors--including dumb luck--played a role. For about 4 million years, the earth was very hospitable to all kinds of species of Homo--we find their bones, in a kaleidoscope of shapes and sizes, all over the old world. Since the last ice age, however, Homo has been having a really rough time of it. And we are the only humans left. If you were locked in a room with 10 people, and one by one they started to disappear, when you were the only one left, you might wonder whether it would happen to you too.....
- allendoerfer 3y ago
  The fact, that I am sitting here slacking off, reading something some dude wrote on the other side of the world just because he had nothing better to do and wanted to enjoy and share his own thoughts, takes away the fear of imminent extinction of my species.
  - rhelz 3y ago
    For all the real work going on, we practically are already extinct. There is a vibe line between doom scrolling and brain death.
- temp0826 3y ago
  Fun to think about. Maybe they were bigger and stronger, which forced us to actually be more clever and start to use our smaller but still very capable brains to accomplish stuff. I don't know if there were actually interactions between the different species, but I sure wouldn't want to fight a neanderthal without a plan or some tools.
- nicklecompte 3y ago
  I mentioned this in an HN comment earlier this week - be careful about the "Neanderthals had bigger brains than us" stuff. A big chunk of that difference is in the occipital lobe, which is involved in visual processing. And the likely reason for that is that they had significantly larger eyes than modern humans: Larger eyes = more pixels = more real-time visual processing demands (assuming Neanderthals had the same visual acuity as modern humans) = bigger chunk of brain, since evolution is not gonna easily minimize the neurons themselves or find a more efficient algorithm. But on the other hand, their brains being comparable in size to ours is a good reason to think their intelligence was basically comparable to ours. FWIW this study suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans might have had very different approaches to language: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4766443/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4766443/ Neanderthals and modern humans both evolved to make sophisticated vocalizations, but it's possible that the Neanderthals had 10000 words yet only a few ways to join them in simple sentences. (E.g. what if Neanderthals couldn't ask questions, only state disagreements?) In particular we know that humans can have local brain damage leading to near-total disability in using language while still being able to comprehend language, so you could see ancient hominids being "as smart as modern humans" in terms of general problem-solving - building tools, administering medicines and performing surgeries, long-term planning around food - but having profound blocks in language that prevented them from forming larger societies. Neanderthals tended to live in small family groups, whereas almost every modern human hunter-gatherer lives in a much larger tribe (absent war or disaster).

by softg 3y ago

shakezula 3y ago

We’re so good at it we’re going to outcompete ourselves in fact

rhelz 3y ago

It's one possible theory, and no doubt, at the very least, it was part of the reason they died. But that's not the only smoking gun. E.g. For at least 200k years, we can tell by fossils from the middle east that we made many attempts to spread to Europe, but were always pushed back. Fun fact: Neanderthals actually had substantially bigger brains that we do today (their average size was about 1400-1500ccs. Subtract the volume of a tennis ball from that and you'll get the average size of our brains today). Neanderthals were smart, tough, mofos. So what changed 50k years ago which finally let us succeed? Well, the climate was warming from the last ice age, and Neanderthals were very much cold-adapted hominids. Their short, stocky legs and heavy muscular arms were great at sneaking through the woods and stabbing a deer with a spear, but when the climate changed the woods disappeared, those short legs, hauling a very heavy upper-body musculature, were not so good at running the deer down on a plain. Honestly, we have no real definitive answer to why we are here and they aren't. Like anything else, probably it was a complicated process in which lots of factors--including dumb luck--played a role. For about 4 million years, the earth was very hospitable to all kinds of species of Homo--we find their bones, in a kaleidoscope of shapes and sizes, all over the old world. Since the last ice age, however, Homo has been having a really rough time of it. And we are the only humans left. If you were locked in a room with 10 people, and one by one they started to disappear, when you were the only one left, you might wonder whether it would happen to you too.....

allendoerfer 3y ago
The fact, that I am sitting here slacking off, reading something some dude wrote on the other side of the world just because he had nothing better to do and wanted to enjoy and share his own thoughts, takes away the fear of imminent extinction of my species.
- rhelz 3y ago
  For all the real work going on, we practically are already extinct. There is a vibe line between doom scrolling and brain death.
temp0826 3y ago
Fun to think about. Maybe they were bigger and stronger, which forced us to actually be more clever and start to use our smaller but still very capable brains to accomplish stuff. I don't know if there were actually interactions between the different species, but I sure wouldn't want to fight a neanderthal without a plan or some tools.
nicklecompte 3y ago
I mentioned this in an HN comment earlier this week - be careful about the "Neanderthals had bigger brains than us" stuff. A big chunk of that difference is in the occipital lobe, which is involved in visual processing. And the likely reason for that is that they had significantly larger eyes than modern humans: Larger eyes = more pixels = more real-time visual processing demands (assuming Neanderthals had the same visual acuity as modern humans) = bigger chunk of brain, since evolution is not gonna easily minimize the neurons themselves or find a more efficient algorithm. But on the other hand, their brains being comparable in size to ours is a good reason to think their intelligence was basically comparable to ours. FWIW this study suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans might have had very different approaches to language: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4766443/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4766443/ Neanderthals and modern humans both evolved to make sophisticated vocalizations, but it's possible that the Neanderthals had 10000 words yet only a few ways to join them in simple sentences. (E.g. what if Neanderthals couldn't ask questions, only state disagreements?) In particular we know that humans can have local brain damage leading to near-total disability in using language while still being able to comprehend language, so you could see ancient hominids being "as smart as modern humans" in terms of general problem-solving - building tools, administering medicines and performing surgeries, long-term planning around food - but having profound blocks in language that prevented them from forming larger societies. Neanderthals tended to live in small family groups, whereas almost every modern human hunter-gatherer lives in a much larger tribe (absent war or disaster).