My freshman year of college I made a good friend, let’s call him Bob, who shared in my talent and excitement of making fun of everyone for superficial reasons. We would sit around our dorm, scouring through “The Meat Book” finding new reasons to hate people that we’ve never met. The Meat Book was an introduction to our classmates that the college sent around the summer before our freshman year. Students were encouraged to include pictures of themselves, as well as relevant information about where they were from, where they went to high school, their major, a couple hobbies that helped define their personalities and a quote or phrase that best described who they were. It was meant as a tool to bond us as a class, but Bob and I used it as a weapon to assert ourselves to the top of the social food chain.

We would sit around for hours, scratching out our classmate’s names above their pictures and penning them new nicknames that we thought were more appropriate according to the image and information they provided. There was a girl we called “Loveladies” because she was stupid enough to admit that she actually had matriculated from a small, beach town in Southern New Jersey called Loveladies. There were the two girls who, we were convinced, were lesbian lovers because we had seen them sharing some spaghetti in the cafeteria one night. Because one of them was an obesely bovine creature and the other one had a long face, and horsey teeth, they were labeled “Fatty McGee” and “Misses Ed”. One of our favorites was “Times Square”. She earned her nickname because, one night at a bar, Bob and I overheard her tell this long-winded and hideously cheesy story about how she had spent the previous New Year’s Eve in Times Square and how it was the best night of her life. And then there was Cro Magnon Man, named so because of his receding hair line and oversized, bumpy forehead.

But every once in awhile we would fumble across a profile that was just too hideous to even look at. Even our keen powers of perception and judgment couldn’t handle the eye-soaring image of a small, unfortunate sect of the student population. For example, there was a girl who, through some genetic misfortune, had been born with no neck, a lazy eye, female pattern baldness and rosacia. Bob and shuddered in horror when we flipped The Meat Book to her picture. It didn’t feel right, even for two shallow guys like us, to make some of someone that was so completely unfortunate in appearance. “She has got to go bye, bye.” I said. Bob crossed out her profile, so it could never frighten us again.

We used our “bye, bye” method of removing unsightly students from The Meat Book and, eventually morphed it into a way of dismissing anything we found inappropriate, dismissive or just plain stupid. We’d be walking around campus and notice a girl in those polka-dotted MC Hammer type of pants that were popular for like, a minute, in the late nineties. Bob and I would look at one another and say “Bye, bye.” Eventually, we shortened it just “bye”. It was the perfect way to express our disgust, annoyance and utter contempt for something while, at the same, providing a sense of finality and closure. When you said “bye” to something, you knew that the topic was closed. When someone would talk to me about something that I either did not agree with or did not want to hear, I’d roll my eyes and simply say “Bye” and walk away. Before long, I started using our new catch phrase in my everyday life. Depending on the situation and what subject was being discussed, I could morph that one little word to express so many different emotions. I spent the next four years of college, and the rest of  my adult life, including a conversation I had with a very rude code official on the phone this morning, uttering that one little word that has served me well for so many years.

If I could go back in time and edit what I included in my profile in The Meat Book, under my picture, instead of the quote I chose originally, I’d replace it with one simple word: “Bye” and site myself as the source. It was, is, and always will be my catch phrase. And even though it was partly inspired by my good friend, Bob, I made it up and it belongs to me. I wish I could say the same for these new catch phrases I’m hearing thrown out all the time.

I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed that, in the last few years, a lot of catch phrases seem to be caught by too many people. Too often I hear “Raise the bar” or “Think outside the box.” One of my favorites is when a client tells me they want their building to “pop.” If they really want it to POP, I could design some explosives in the basement to pop it up to the sky. I wish. Too many people are hopping on the catch phrase bandwagon, stealing and taking credit for phrases that they certainly did not generate. Two of the worst offenders recently have been “The reality is…” and “It is what it is.”. It’s always amazing to me when I’m talking to someone and they say “Well, the reality is…”. Do they think that I’m existing in a parallel universe? Do they think that I live in the fourth dimension? I know what reality is, and when I hear someone utter that stupid phrase, my reality is that I want to punch them in their catch phrase thieving face. And what’s the point of saying “It is what it is.” Of course it is what it is. If it wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be it; it would be something totally different. One time, when the time is right and I’ve had an especially bad day, or one too many martinis, I’m going to respond to that stupid piece of language that’s crept up into our lexicon by saying “You know, I actually think it is what it isn’t.” and just see what kind of response that receives.

My bf and I were at a dinner party a few days ago with some good friends of ours and some friends of theirs from out of town. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, a few cocktails and had just started our desert when the topic of politics came up. Normally, a political discussion with a bunch of gay guys is pretty simple: we’re always Democrats, bordering on Socialists. We joke about how the government should provide all Americans with toilet paper and how gay marriage and would actually lead to a more progressive and productive political body. But at this fateful dinner party, there was a kink in our political chain: one of our friends’ friends was a Republican. My bf kicked my leg under the table, signally that we should just keep our mouths shut and not get involved in a lengthy discussion about why gay Republicans are one step up the scumbag ladder from abusive spouses or how I’m convinced that Ann Coulter is really a man. So, I poured myself a fresh glass of wine and sat back, ready to bite my tongue listening to the conservative diatribe of this person that I barely knew.

He spouted off about how stupid it was for the three least effective politicians of the last fifty years (Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and Barack Obama) to have all won Nobel prizes. He actually defended proposition 8, invoking some bogus rhetoric about how it’s okay to limit citizens freedoms for the better of the majority. And, his crowning moment was when he said, and I quote “It’s not that I’m a racist, I just think white people are smarter.” To this, despite my bf’s urging, I had to say something. “Isn’t that the definition of a racist?” I asked, trying to conceal the growing hatred I had for this pathetic closet case and his Bill O’Reilly inspired ideals. He mouthed out some statistic that he’d heard on Fox news, no doubt, about the difference in test scores between mostly white schools compared to mostly black schools. We spent a few minutes, sparring back and forth, my anger getting harder to hide with every breath, when he said to me, “Listen, the reality is that white people are just smarter. It is what it is.” I sat there, frozen, with just my thoughts for a few seconds.

Was this my opportunity to unleash all the frustration I had for these quasi-intellectuals and their commitment to bastardizing someone else’s catch phrase? Should I throw out my canned speech that I’d prepared for this very occasion? I mean, this doofus had just uttered the two phrases that I hated most in the English language as if he had just though of them right there and then. But then I remembered my bf’s nudge at the beginning of the conversation and the fact that we were at our friend’s house, so I took a small sip of wine and just asked “Did you read that on Sean Hannity’s blog?” “Excuse me?” he asked. Not wanting to talk to him anymore all I could say was “Bye”. I stood up from the table and walked to the bathroom. By the time I returned, the conversation had taken a new direction and we spent the rest of the evening in relative harmony.

My advice to catch phrase thieves:

If you’re not smart enough to think of something creative to say, just sit back and shut your mouth. Most likely, the people around you won’t want to hear what you have to say anyway

My advice to everyone else:

The next time someone says to you “Show me the view from thirty thousand feet”, take them to the aiport, board a flight. After you’ve reached the cruising alititude, open the emergency exit seat and throw them out of it. That should give them what they’re look for…and what they deserve.

Jo, i dag skola jag och ett urval av mina närmaste titta på fotboll. Nej, det blir inga nätbrynjor. Tilltugget består förvisso i en senare del av aftonen av chips, OSTBÅGAR och annat, men dessförinnan inmundigas ostar, korv och annat trevligt.

För att säkra att det blir en strålande dag har jag naturligtvis valt att ställa mitt starkaste och bästa lag på benen.

Den taktiska uppställningen är 4-5-1 och jag har formerat laget ganska så finurligt. Åtminstone kände jag mig som en bättre coach än killen före mig som köpte 12 Åbro och en seglarvatten.

Backlinje:

På ytterbackarna huserar två karbonkopior vid namn Nils-Oscar. Moderna ytterbackar som vågar sticka upp. I och med att det är november och kallt har jag sen kompletterat backlinjen med två brittiska fyrtorn som fixar det mesta – Marston och Fuller.

Mittfält:

Tre skotska trillingar bildar ett av de mest spännande innermittfält världen skådat sedan VM-58. De kommer från klanen Belhaven och är något av Skottlands blomma. På kanterna har jag två jänkare, Sierra Nevada och Anchor. Känns passande eftersom USA numera är både lite vänster och höger.

Anfall:

Ska du ha en striker så är det givetvis en snögubbe från Harviestoun.

Avbytare:

En flaska Apotekarnes julmust.

Vänta, målvakten då? Ja, men det är ju jag…

Okej, då kör vi, dags att sjunga upp.

Who ate all the pies, who ate all the pies
The referee’s a wanker
Who are’ya?

Hörs (kanske) i morgon.

Planet Earth has a long and rich history that dates back to at least 4.5 billion years ago. Currently, there are well over one million known species in existence. Scientists believe there may be as many as another 80 million or so to discover. Yet this number pales compared to the total number thought to have existed – 40 billion – which are now extinct. The story of humankind is truly wondrous and amazingly recent in geologic times.

In 1758 the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus named humans Homo sapiens or “knowledgeable man.” We are social animals that enjoy music, humor, literature and affection. We are also supreme game players and actually cherish the art of finesse.

Humans are 98.8 percent genetically similar to chimpanzees and bonobos. Deep down, however, we do not like the idea that we are related to the apes, monkey or Neanderthals and at times we’ll go to extreme lengths to distance ourselves. Sometimes humans are too full of hubris or ignorance, or worse, a combination of both.

In fact, the earliest primates are thought to have evolved from Purgatorius, a small insectivore-like, forest-dwelling mammal, in the late Cretaceous period, over 70 million years ago. The oldest known human-related fossil – Sahel Man from Chad – dates back 7 million years. The next oldest fossil is 4.4 million years old, and it was found 1,553 miles (2,500 kilometers) away from Chad in Middle Awash, Ethiopia. 

The most in tact fossil dating back 3.5 million years, found in 1974 by Don Johanson, was named Lucy. She walked upright or bipedal rather than knuckle-walking, a strange quadrupedal gait seen in chimps and gorillas. Upright walking was significant for it freed hands and enabled another crucial step in hominid evolution – tool making. Other known tool-makers in the animal kingdom include ants, crows, elephants, dolphins and ravens. 

Pollen grains and fossil animal teeth from Africa clearly show that during the mid to late Pliocene (3-4 million years ago) the climate changed significantly from moist and warm to arid and cool. Forests and clumps of trees or woodlands retreated or died off and savannah grasses and drought and cold tolerant species predominated.

Climate change had a profound effect on human-related ancestry. It forced many of them to leave the forest and challenged them to make a living on grasslands. 

Stone tools enabled the development of nut-cracking technology and it provided bipedal hominids with a highly nutritious supply, in excess of 5000 calories a day, of proteins. Increased intake of proteins paved the way for the development of larger brains greater than 600 cubic centimeters. The earliest stone tools date back to 2.6 million years ago. 

About 2.2 million years ago Earth entered into the Pleistocene Epoch, which is renowned for long periods of glaciation interspersed by much shorter, 12,000- to 26,000-year, warm periods. Incidentally, we are currently in a short warm period called the Holocene. The onset of glaciation a couple million years ago is believed to have increased the hunting skills of early hominids. Diets were much higher in protein from the copious amounts of mega Ice Age mammals and this subsequently helped the size of brains to double and in some cases almost triple.

Roughly 1.8 million years ago human ancestors started leaving Africa. It was a remarkable feat, but it is, of course, no more remarkable than similar migrations by successful species since the days of the dinosaurs. Even at a rate of 10 kilometers per generation, of say, 20 years – a species could easily cover 31, 069 miles (50,000 kilometers) in 10,000 years. North American caribou migrate some 3,107 miles (5,000 kilometers) every year. 

Five hundred thousand years ago the hominid brain size jumped to 900 cubic centimeters. And this coincided with the rise of the Neanderthals in Eurasia. They were excellent hunters and tool-makers who lead strenuous and dangerous lives. Eighty thousand years ago they invented strong bonding glue from birch tree pitch. Mysteriously, Neanderthals went extinct 28,000 years ago. 

Fossils from coastal Blombos Cave, South Africa 80,000 years ago revealed a diverse array of bone tools including projectiles, awls and crayons. Awls were important because they enabled furry skins to be sewn thus providing warmth during cold periods. Seven centimeter-long, intentionally scored rocks with a series of lines making diamond patterns were covered in iron-rich ochre and used as crayons in cave art.

The greatest collection of cave art is found in Chauvet, southern France which 32,000 years ago was an Ice Age game park of Europe. Equally magnificent Australian rock art dating back to 24,600 years ago depicts a number of techniques including carving, pecking and spray painting. 

The emergence of language probably from manual gesticulation some 200,000 years ago was a major step in human evolution. The human larynx descends into the vocal tract enabling an astounding range of vowels and consonants that can be strung together without conscious effort to form complex communications. Fossil evidence from 60,000 years ago shows that Neanderthals were also capable of advanced vocalization including speech. Today there are over 6,000 spoken languages.

Cro-Magnon, the direct descendants of modern man, appeared about 130,000 years ago. Ninety thousand years ago they reached Mount Carmel (in today’s Israel). Cro-Magnon arrived in Australia 56,000 years ago and 4,000 years later they reached Europe. Paleo-humans crossed the Bering land bridge about 20,000 years ago and reached South America roughly 5,000 years later. By 1500 A.D. the population was 47 million. Today there are over 6.2 billion people on Earth.

Out of the long march of Africa, all living humans, whether Asian, African or European extraction share 99.9 percent of the 26,000 genes or so in our genome. Our molecular make-up has about double that of the fruit-fly (13,600 genes) and yet half that of a poplar tree (45,000 genes).

At least 6 species of humans have existed over the past 2 million years or more; we are the sole survivors.

SAVE THE BEES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6w-Z7XlnHI

Dr Reese Halter is a public speaker, conservation biologist and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. His latest book is The Incomparable Honey Bee http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Incomparable+HoneyBee+reese+halter&x=0&y=0 He can be reached through http://DrReese.com

What happened to Neanderthal man?  This question has boggled historians for many years.  However, newly analyzed remains hint that a modern human killed a Neanderthal in the land today known as Iraq nearly 75000 years ago.  This new evidence suggests that modern humans hay have helped eliminate Neanderthals by killing them. 

Neanderthal on left and Cro-magnon on right

Scientists analyzing the remains found a wound which was probably left by a Cro-Magnon spear.   Neanderthals were ancestors of humans who lived in Europe as far back as 230,00 years ago.  But, after Cro-magnon modern man came on the scene, they slowly disappeared.  Many theories float around including interbreeding between the two species and them not even coming into much direct contact.  This body gives the opposite impression. 

After testing several weapons on pig carcasses, a good analog for  humans, researchers discovered that a thrown spear matches the injuries to the ribs.  These injuries match several other ones found on other remains.   Cro-magnon men were the only ones at that time who had technologies like the projectile spear.  But, scientists state, it was probably competition for resources which forced the Neanderthal die off.  They are not saying that there was a Cro-magnon/Neanderthal war.

The Cosmic Perspective

Was it an accident…or was it murder?  Human on human violence has occurred through history.  Even our primate cousins: chimpanzees will often fight physically for territory and resources.  So perhaps it is really human nature to fight.  Are wars, murders, and violence a part of human nature?  I would like to think not, that humans are on higher moral ground.  Perhaps my confidence in mankind was misplaced.

At first I thought this five-year-old just had an incontinence problem. We had a party at our house (no, not THAT party) and everyone was chilling out on our deck, conversating and tossing water balloons. This little girl walks onto the deck and pisses herself in front of everyone. And then laughs about it and brags how she just peed herself, as if she’s proud. Needless to say, even my jaw dropped and got slivers.

Where? Right here? On this nice white sign that could use a dab of yellow?

So at this point I wondered if this little girl might be a Cro-Mag.

When I grow up I want to walk the earth and piss everywhere!

So today I hear by word of mouth that this little girl took a shit in a dumpster. Yes, a shit in a dumpster.

There's no diving in this motherfucker.

Apparently her babysitter had told her one day that all of her baby sister’s shitty diapers go in the dumpster. So this little girl decided in her Cro-Magnon mind that shitting in a dumpster would be acceptable. Why not? We throw used condoms in that motherfucker, right? It’s not like defecating in a dumpster is a crime or anything. I do know one thing. This little girl may just grow up to be a dumpster diver. Or one really lazy Cro-Mag of a kid.

The world's first sterile dumpster.

Co za głupie pytanie? – pomyślisz. – Co to za problem, ile wzrostu na człowiek. Przecież to oczywiste, wystarczy rozejrzeć się wokół. Hm. Chwila zastanowienia. Wszak ta dziewczyna w której durzyłeś się przez cały ogólniak miała metr sześćdziesiąt dwa, a ten dryblas, który się cały czas koło niej kręcił mierzył prawie dwa metry. A na pewno nie były to skrajności, które miałeś okazję spotkać w ciągu swojego ciekawego życia.

Olbrzymia jest różnorodność w obrębie jednego zaledwie gatunku, który od dawna zwie się “rodzajem ludzkim”. Co prawda poza tym “rodzajem” nikomu jeszcze nie udało się spotkać żywego hominida, ale jakby tak wziąć kilku niewątpliwych przedstawicieli Homo sapiens i na kilkaset lat przysypać ziemią…

Lucia Zarate (55 cm)

Ten krasnal na filmie to pochodzący z Mongolii Wewnętrznej (część ChRL) niejaki He Pingping. Jest uznawany na najmniejszego dorosłego człowieka na ziemi, który potrafi samodzielnie chodzić i jako taki figuruje w Księdze Guinessa. Ten 21-latek mierzy zaledwie 73 centymetry i robi karierę w japońskich i chińskich programach rozrywkowych. Co prawda podobno niższy od niego jest Jordańczyk Younis Edwan (65 cm), ale oficjalnie nie udało się go jeszcze szacownej komisji zmierzyć. I tak jednak na głowę (raczej na główkę) przebił ich nieżyjący już Gul Mohammed z Indii, który miał tylko 57 cm wzrostu. Wzrostu dużego kota była również Meksykanka Lucia Zarate (55 cm), która w XIX wieku występowała w Cyrku Osobliwości. Oczywiście wszystkie te osoby dotknęła jakaś przykra choroba, której efektem było zniekszałcone, miniaturowe ciało. W porównaniu z nimi człowiek, którego szczątki odnaleziono w 2003 roku na indonezyjskiej wyspie Flores, tak zwany hobbit, okrzyknięty jakimśtam hominidem i mierzył około metra, mógł być wręcz olbrzymem.

Robert Wadlow (272 cm) z ojcem

Wielkoludów zresztą też nie brakuje. Na powyższym filmiku “najmniejszy człowiek świata”, ów He Pingping spotyka właśnie swojego ziomka niejakiego Bao Xishun, 58-latka również z chińskiej Mongolii Wewnętrznej, którego wzrost wynosi 236,1 cm. Jednak na liście najwyższych osób w historii, których wzrost zmierzono oficjalnie Chińczyk zajmuje dopiero 10-te miejsce. Niekwestionowanym liderem jest Robert Wadlow (1918-1940), Amerykanin mierzący 272 cm. Wobec niego nawet Goliat, Filistyn z Gat, którego pokonał Dawid, nie wydawałby się aż tak wysoki (Goliat miał “sześć łokci i piędź” wzrostu, więc około 290 cm).

Różnice we wzroście nie dotyczą zresztą tylko pojedynczych osób, ale też całych populacji. W Afryce Środkowej żyją Pigmeje, którzy dorastają gdzieś do 150 cm. Zresztą antropolodzy nazywają “pigmejami” rozmaite półtorametrowe plemiona żyjące także w Indochinach, Papui czy lasach tropikalnych Ameryki Południowej. Warunki życia tych maluchów są mniej więcej zbliżone, niezależnie od kontynentu, na jakim mieszkają. Z drugiej strony takie plemiona, jak Masajowie, osiągają bardzo wysoki wzrost (w okolicach 2 metrów). Podobne różnice są zauważalne w obrębie każdej rasy, a nawet narodu. Ewolucyjna koncepcja rozwoju od małych gryzoni, poprzez małpy do człowieka, zupełnie nie pasuje do faktów dotyczacych różnorodności rodzaju ludzkiego.

Pigmeje afrykańscy i Europejczyk

Dwa lata temu na stronie naukowej Polskiego Radia ukazał się artykuł relacjonujący badania przeprowadzone przez brytyjskich antropologów wśród Pigmejów i Masajów oraz innych wyjątkowo wysokich i niskich ludów. Doszli oni do wniosku, że na wzrost największy wpływ mają nie tyle pożywienie i warunki klimatyczne, ale przede wszystkim średnia długość życia danej populacji.

Największa różnica istniała pomiędzy Amerykanami a Masajami i Pigmejami. Chociaż „niziołki” przestają rosnąć w wieku 13 lat, a ich wysocy sąsiedzi rosną dalej, by ich wzrost ustalił się w wieku około dwudziestu kilku lat, to współczynnik wzrostu obydwóch grup jest zbliżony; różni je tylko to, że Pigmeje wcześniej przestają rosnąć. Skoro zatem, mimo niedożywienia, współczynnik wzrostu Amerykanów i ludów zbieracko-rolniczych z Afryki a Azji był różny, badacze doszli do wniosku, że to nie dostęp do żywności powodował różnice we wzroście.

Prezydent G. W. Bush i przystojna Masajka

Kolejnym czynnikiem, który przeanalizowali naukowcy, była długość życia w różnych grupach Pigmejów. Okazało się, że waha się ona pomiędzy 16-24 lat. Jest to o tyle nietypowe, że inne grupy rolnicze i łowiecko-zbierackie żyją zwykle dwa razy dłużej! Pigmeje „przekwitają” wcześniej niż ich wysocy pobratymcy, ale też dużo mniej kobiet w grupie „niziołków” w ogóle dożywa okresu menopauzy. Aeta rozmnażają się w wieku zaledwie około 15-16 lat – 3 lata wcześniej niż inni łowcy-zbieracze. Masajowie rozmnażają się zaś najpóźniej.

Wygląda zatem na to, że – w obliczu wysokiej i wczesnej śmiertelności – organizmy Pigmejów wybrały strategię przetrwania, polegająca na rezygnacji ze wzrostu na rzecz wczesnego dojrzewania płciowego. Dzięki temu grupa „niziołków” może przetrwać. – Chociaż wyzwania, jakie stanowią termoregulacja, poruszanie się w gęstej dżungli, ryzyko chorób tropikalnych oraz niedożywienie nie wpływają na cechy charakterystyczne Pigmejów – piszą autorzy opracowania w Proceedings… -  to przyczyniają się one do ich wysokiej śmiertelności.

Paleoantropolodzy znajdują pradawne szczątki należące do rozmaitych przedstawicieli “rodzaju ludzkiego”. Na podstawie skamieniałych, fragmentarycznych szkieletów próbują odtworzyć wygląd i inne cechy naszych przodków. Trzeba przyzać, że są w tym dobrzy i potrafią naprawdę profesjonalnie rozpoznać do jakiej odmiany człowieka należy jakś kostka (jak na przykład ta z Morza Północnego). Oczywiście większość z nich wierzy, że człowiek pochodzi od małpy, więc czasem nadają rekonstrukcjom jakieś małpie cechy. Zdarzają się również osobniki zdeformowane poprzez różne choroby. Jednak człowiek jest tylko (i aż!) człowiekiem, a małpa jest tylko małpą. Tak jak dziś ludzie różnią się wzrostem i wyglądem, podobnie było w przeszłości, na przykład pomiędzy stworzeniem pierwszej pary ludzkiej, a Potopem. Z tamtych czasów niewątpliwie pochodzi gros skamieniałości. I tak jak Szwed różni się od Pigmeja, a Anglik od Aborygena, tak samo różniły się (między sobą i nami) rasy ludzi przedpotopowych lub tych wymarłych już odmian, które wywodziły się od Noego i jego synów.

Według Księgi Rodzaju ludzki świat przedpotopowy istniał ponad 1650 lat. Ludzie dożywali nawet 900 lat, co niewątpliwie było spowodowane korzystniejszymi warunkami klimatycznymi oraz tym, że byli bliżej pierwotnej doskonałości. Z pewnością miało to wpływ na ich wzrost, jak wynika ze wspomnianych badań nad wzrostem i długością wieku. Już dawno zwrócono uwagę, że wśród tak zwanych “ludzi kopalnych” (Homo fossilis, tak kiedyś nazywano znajdowane skamieliny ludzi) występuje wiele niezwykle wysokich osobników. Dotyczy to zwłaszcza “człowieka z Cro-Magnon”, anatomicznie identycznego z nami, oraz neandertalczyków, którzy mieli nieco inne proporcje niektórych części ciała (co ciekawe w odwrotnym kierunku niż zakłada ewolucjonizm). U obu tych ras pojemność mózgoczaszki była większa niż u człowieka współczesnego. Jeśli były to rzeczywiście rasy żyjące przed Potopem (pewności oczywiście nie mam, ale jest to najbardziej prawdopodobne) to trudno nie doszukać się w tych skamieniałych szczątkach potwierdzenia biblijnej relacji o świecie przedpotopowym. Zresztą Księga Rodzaju mówi też o rasie olbrzymów, nefilim, którzy terroryzowali ówczesne społeczeństwo (Rdz 6:4). Nie wiadomo jak bardzo wyróżniali się wzrostem i jak wielu ich żyło, ale w obliczu faktów naukowych nie da się zanegować ich istnienia.

Olbrzymia różnorodność w obrębie rodzaju ludzkiego nie upoważnia do wyciągania wniosków, że kiedyś jakieś małpy przekształciły się w ludzi. W książce Jak powstało życie? Przez ewolucję czy przez stwarzanie? na stronie 94 można przeczytać:

Wiara w „małpoludy” nie ma podstaw. Wszystkie cechy człowieka świadczą o tym, że został stworzony — oddzielnie i niezależnie od każdego zwierzęcia. Ludzie rozmnażają się tylko w obrębie swego gatunku. Tak jest dzisiaj i tak było w przeszłości. Wszelkie małpokształtne stworzenia, które żyły dawniej, były po prostu małpami człekokształtnymi albo małpami, a nie ludźmi. Szczątki kopalne dawnych ludzi, którzy niewiele się różnili od człowieka współczesnego, świadczą jedynie o różnorodności w granicach rodzaju ludzkiego, tak jak i dziś żyją obok siebie rozmaici ludzie. Na przykład szkielety ludzi, którzy mieli dwa metry wzrostu, różnią się kształtem i rozmiarami od szkieletów Pigmejów. Wszyscy należą jednak do tego samego „rodzaju” ludzkiego, a nie do „rodzaju” zwierzęcego.

This weekend I watched part of a special on the history channel – Clash of the Cavemen, I think it was called. It focused on the overlap of time between the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, about 30,000 years ago. It was mentioned that up to 85% of the diet consisted of meat, though I missed whether that figure referred to Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons, or both.

According to Paul Roberts in The End of Food, 66% of Cro-Magnon’s calories came from animal foods, with the remainder coming from “plants and tubers, eggs, insects, fruits, and honey.” One thing I find interesting about the 66% is that it does not include eggs (or insects, for that matter, but you’re not going to see me eating those any time soon), which we would usually consider to be an animal product. Roberts goes on to say that Mike Richards of Oxford has shown this diet to be nearly identical to wolves, bears, and other “top-level carnivores.”

So, we have a carnivorous past.

The life-span of a Cro-Magnon was not long, however. Hunting was dangerous, and a simple childhood accident would spell death in those times due to lack of medical care. But Roberts cites paleonutrition expert Neil Mann from RMIT University in Melbourne, saying that “fossil remains from this period show none of the diet-related chronic diseases that plague us today.”

Early man thrived on a meat-laden diet. One might argue that we’re not comparing apples to apples because early man didn’t have the life expectancy that we do. I will argue right back and say look at the rates of childhood obesity today. Look at the number of children developing Type II diabetes! According to the Institute of Medicine, childhood obesity rates have doubled for children aged 2-5 and 12-19 in the past three decades; obesity rates for children aged 6-11 have tripled during that time! Over 9 million children (as of 2004) over age 6 were considered obese.

Further, about 60% of obese children between the ages of 5 and 10 years had at at least one of the following: elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, or blood pressure; 25% had two of those risk factors.

It’s scary stuff, and yet, I can’t help but notice that those very “diseases of civilization” were not present at all during the same age ranges in the Cro-Magnons. Face it, we’re eating a completely different diet from what early man ate. The advent of agriculture was some 10,000 years ago, and refined grains and sugars only popped up about 200 years ago. Of course, then there are the sugar substitutes and low-fat foods we consume in an effort to be “healthier.”

It’s not working.

I acknowledge that I’m a complete hypocrite at the moment, considering I’ve just consumed my second protein shake of the day. However, this is not a long-term strategy for me, it’s merely a jump-start. I’m pushing 300 pounds, and I would argue at this point, it’s important to get some of that weight off quickly, so as not to put my joints and heart under so much continued stress. After a few weeks, I’ll transition to protein shakes in the morning, then animal protein and veggies for lunch and dinner. Ultimately, my diet will be all whole, natural foods: no artificial sweeteners, no low-fat foods.

After settling in its new orbit (see previous post) the Earth and Moon went on their billion year process of transformation shying away from the cyclical passage of the intruder. Apparently about 450.000 years ago the inhabitants of planet nibiru had evolved to the point where they could travel around the universe and explore/exploit other worlds. The Earth provided quite a number of mineral resources and they settled here to extract them. This is not too hard to believe given that we are now at the early stages of doing the same with plans to mine the Moon and Mars, just google it.
These people, called by the Sumerians Annunaki, performed the hard work of mining the Earth, but they soon rebelled against their leaders due to the poor labour conditions they were subjected to. According to another book entitled Forbidden Archaeology by Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson, the deepest layers of our planet offer indeed remains of artefacts that seem to indicate an intelligent presence on Earth millions of years ago.
To sort out the problem, the Annunaki leaders resorted to the most advanced techniques in the science of genetics – something we are now at the early stages of developing too – hunted down a few hominids, who were walking the Earth, mixed their genes with their own and produced us, Cro-Magnons, about 300.000 years ago. It was also at that time that our cousins the Neanderthals got eaten by us, as one of my previous posts mentioned.
But they made us hybrids. We could not reproduce as they needed to control us and use us for labour purposes. We, innocent beings, did as we were told and looked upon them as our gods. And they have remained in our myths from the many cultures around the world as such.
Our gods were not perfect beings. They had good and bad in them and they were as ‘soulless’ as some human beings walking the Earth today seem to be. Their leader’s brother Ea or Enki, also known as the Serpent, was supposedly a genious genetic scientist and someone who cared for humanity. Breaking the law, he once visited the hybrids in the Eden Lab and provided them with the extra genetic components necessary for procreation. And thus we discovered sex, enjoyed the nakedness and were expelled from their kingdom to spread and multiply around the world. It might have been then, that still not knowing what to do for food, we ended up eating our Neanderthal cousins who never got genetically modified and were happily procreating on the ‘free’ zone areas.
The Annunaki afraid of such a multiplication of their clone experiment decided to put an end to this and drown us all. But Enki, the Serpent, warned some humans teaching them how to build a submarine arc and escape the catastrophe. The gods went up in space shuttles watching the Earth submersing into the gigantic waves. Some of them felt for us and cried appalled at the destruction of their own creation through their own mean feat. They did not learn that some of us had survived until after the disaster.
They left, returning again every 3600 years and slowly transmitting us the knowledge that jump started major revolutions in the history of humanity: control of metals, agriculture and the first civilisations such as that of the Sumerians who recorded ours and their histories.
And everytime they came back there was more and more of us. We had survived and we liked the sex.

///

Após se re-orbitar à volta do Sol (ver post anterior), a Terra e a Lua continuaram o seu processo de transformação por bilhões de anos recebendo com temeridade a passagem cíclica do intruso. E então à 450.000 anos os habitantes do planeta Nibiru haviam evoluído ao ponto de poderem viajar no universo e explorar, no bom e no mau sentido, outros mundos. A Terra possuía um vasto número de minérios e os habitantes de Nibiru colonizaram o planeta tendo em vista a sua extração. Não é dificil acreditar que tal foi possível se tivermos em consideração que a humanidade chegou agora ao estágio inicial de exploração galáctica com planos para minar a Lua e Marte, basta googlarem o assunto.
Este povo alienigena, a quem os Sumérios chamaram de Annunaki, fizeram o trabalho duro de mineração da Terra, mas cedo se revoltaram contra as horríveis condições de trabalho a que seus líderes os sujeitavam. De acordo com outro livro entitulado Arqueologia Proíbida de Michael Cremo e Richard Thompon, nas camadas mais profundas do nosso planeta, foram encontrados artefatos que indicam a presença de vida inteligente na Terra datadas de milhões de anos.
Para resolver o problema, os líderes dos Annunak usaram as mais avançadas técnicas na ciência genética – algo que também hoje nós estamos nos estágios iniciais de desenvolver – caçaram alguns hominideos que o processo evolutivo criara na terra, misturaram seus genes com os destes e nos produziram, a nós os Cro-Magnons, à cerca de 300.000 anos. Foi ainda nessa altura que os nossos primos Neandertais foram por nós comidos, como contei num dos meus posts anteriores.
Só que eles nos criaram hibridos. Nós não nos podíamos reproduzir porque eles precisavam de manter o controle sobre nós para nos poder utilizar para seus fins laborais. Nós, então seres inocentes, fazíamos o que nos mandavam fazer e os olhavámos como deuses. E assim eles permaneceram nos mitos das muita culturas existentes na história da Terra.
Os nossos deuses não eram perfeitos. Eram bons e maus ao mesmo tempo, e tão ‘sem alma’ quanto muitos seres humanos que andam por aí. O irmão do líder dos Annunaki, que se chamava Ea ou Enki e era ainda conhecido como a ‘Serpente’, foi supostamente um génio da ciência genética e preocupava-se com a humanidade que ele ajudou a criar. Num ato de rebelião, entrou um dia no Laboratório Edén para dar aos híbridos humanos os componentes químicos necessários à procriação. E assim descobrimos o sexo, curtimos a nudez e por isso fomos expulsos do reino Annunaki para nos espalharmos e multiplicarmos pelo mundo. Pode até ter sido por isso que, sem saber como conseguir alimento, acabámos por comer os nossos primos Neandertais, que não haviam sido genéticamente modificados e se passeavam pelas áreas livres do planeta procriando alegremente.
Os Annunaki, assustados com a nossa multiplicação, decidiram acabar com a nossa raça e afogar-nos. Mas Enki, a Serpente mais uma vez se compadeceu de nós, avisando alguns humanos e ensinado-os como construír uma arca submarina para escapar da catástrofe. Os deuses subiram aos céus em naves espaciais e de lá observaram a Terra sendo submersa por ondas gigantescas. Alguns ficaram desolados, chorando a destruição da sua própria criação pelo seus próprios meios demoníacos. Só souberam da nossa sobrevivência após o desastre.
E partiram, voltando a cada 3600 anos, e transmitindo-nos pouco a pouco os conhecimentos que provovaram as revoluções que marcaram a história da humanidade: domínio sobre os metais, a agricultura, as primeiras civilizações, tais como a dos Sumérios que registraram a nossa e a história deles. E sempre que voltavam nós eram mais. Sobrevivemos e claramente gostávamos de sexo.

Poniamo che un vostro amico, qualcuno per la cui vasta cultura ed intelligenza nutrite un’enorme ammirazione (no, non sto parlando di me, tranquilli) e che conoscete e frequentate da 10 anni, vi dica che sta per andarsene via. Che sta per partire per un lungo viaggio dal quale non fara’ piu’ ritorno. Insomma, poniamo che questa persona vi stia dicendo addio.

Il personaggio in questione vi invitera’, assieme ad altri stretti amici, per una cena di saluto. Si sa che davanti ad un buon bicchiere di vino e ad un buon piatto, e’ piu’ facile digerire i fatti della vita.

Bene, poniamo che l’amico in questione, ad un certo punto, vistosi pressato da domande del tipo “ma perche’ te ne vai?“, “eppure hai una bella carriera qua“, eccetera eccetera, vi dicesse (dopo aver preso qualche minuto di pausa per schiarissi l’idea e per gettare il malloppo che evidentemente lo attanaglia) che in realta’ lui non e’ l’uomo che dice di essere. L’uomo che tutti voi conoscete. Lo stimato professore universitario, la cui intelligenza tanto ammirate.

Guardandovi negli occhi, vi dice di essere un uomo vecchio di 14.000 anni. Un Cro-Magnon. Unico sopravvissuto all’estinzione della sua razza. Un uomo delle caverne, che per qualche ragione, caso fortuito o maledizione, non e’ mai morto, ne’ invecchiato.

Condizione pero’ la sua che lo costringe a cambiare luogo e giro di amici ogni 10 anni, per evitare che qualcuno si renda conto del fatto che lui non invecchia e che si comincino a fare delle domande a suo riguardo.

Immaginate adesso la vostra reazione, come quella degli altri commensali. Comincerete a credere che il vostro amico vi stia prendendo per i fondelli, che sia tutto uno scherzo. Ma lui tiene su il gioco, non si mette a ridere. Vi dice soltanto che capisce la vostra reazione, che se si trovasse nei vostri panni farebbe come voi, non ci crederebbe nemmeno lui. Allora cominciate a fargli domande, per trovare dei punti deboli nella sua storia. Ma il vostro gioco non riesce. A domande come “come fai a sapere di essere un Cro-Magnon? Vi chiamavate cosi’ anche tra di voi?” oppure “dove eri nel 1282?“, il vostro amico risponde molto normalmente, mantenendo la sua versione (“L’ho saputo solo dopo che noi che vivevamo in quella parte di Europa in quell’epoca eravamo stati denominati Cro-Magnon” ed “e tu ricordi dove eri il 12 ottobre di 16 anni fa?“).

Vedrete che dopo poco la conversazione comincera’ a prendere un tono assurdo, con voi che da un lato vi rifiuterete di accettare l’idea che il vostro amico sia vecchio di 14.000 anni e dall’altro comincerete a nutrire seri dubbi sulla sua stabilita’ mentale, e il suo pervicace rifiuto di ammettere lo scherzo, continuando a professarsi immortale.

Vi renderete conto che non esite modo per voi di dimostrare che lui stia mentendo, ne’ per lui di convincervi della sua idea. L’unico modo sarebbe che tentaste di ucciderlo, per vedere se le sue ferite si rimarginano davvero, ma essendo voi convinti che sia tutto uno scherzo, immagino decidiate anche di soprassedere all’idea di sparare al vostro amico.

E’ molto probabile che a quel punto la “lotta” tra voi e il vostro amico vada in fase di stallo e che un po’ per darvi una pausa ed interrompere la querelle, facciate finta di accettare il fatto che egli sia un cavernicolo. Comincerete a quel punto a fargli domande sulla sua storia, su come abbia vissuto il fatto di essere immortale e soprattutto cosa abbia fatto per tutto questo tempo.

Con vostro crescente stupore sentirete il vostro amico raccontarvi la sua storia, che, seppur lungi dal convincervi, vi abbagliera’ con immagini del passato e, a suo modo, dara’ delle risposte ad alcuni fatti storici come ad esempio la nascita delle religioni.

Ma per tutta la cena, la domanda rimarra’ la stessa, il vostro amico vi sta prendendo in giro o e’ malato? Oppure vi sta dicendo la verita’?

Questa e’ la storia del bel film indipendente “The Man from Earth” (2007), tratto da un racconto scritto su letto di morte da Jerome Bixby, il cui nome dovrebbe dire qualcosa ai fan di fantascienza.

Il film e’ tutto girato in una stanza ed e’ solo dialogo.

Un film che tra il serio e il faceto parla di filosofia, religione e rapporti umani. Un bella storia, ve ne consiglio la visione.

You spell it as in “I don’t want to have to have kidney dialysis”; you spell it as self-sufficiency. Reflection comes naturally when difficulties pile up. It was Samuel Johnson who said:

Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. [Boswell, Life of Johnson]

Clans and tribes have always had to be self-sufficient. When we look back and categorize groups, we do so by their way of making a living; we speak of “hunting and gathering,” “herding,” and “agricultural” societies. These groups concentrated on one or two natural resources and developed the skills to exploit them. The American Indians of the northern plains serve as a good example. They earned their living by hunting the buffalo and raising pumpkins and maize; they were diversified to some extent. I read long ago a most revealing study of their economy; I still remember its crucial finding but, alas, I’ve forgotten the source. The study found that the plains Indians expended 0.6 calories in order to obtain 1.0 calorie of energy—in all of their activities. They were self-sufficient. They had autarky. Their efforts to obtain food also supplied them with materials to clothe and shelter them. They realized an “energy profit.”

Trade developed very early. Long before historical time, trade routes extended surprisingly far. A fascinating study† of the Neanderthals, but covering also the our ancestors, the Cro-Magnons who displaced them, reports that as far back as 40,000 years ago, trade routes of up to 430 miles in one direction already existed. The ladies among my readers will be pleased to learn that the very earliest trade goods we can identify were little stone Goddess figures, known in the business as Venus-figures; they had religious and ritual significance. We are able to trace the trade routes because these figures have survived, and we know, studying the stone from which they came, how far the figures had had to travel. The location of the quarries where the stone originated marks the start of trade routes; the locations farthest away mark the end of routes. The routes are traced by locating points where the figurines have been found underground—and then, connecting the dots on the map, we get the routes. Somewhat later trade in stone weapons and tools developed; later yet seashells were moved hundreds of miles inland from seashores and transformed into ornaments. Perhaps other things (skins? wovens?) moved as well, but these would have perished. The point I would emphasize is that ancient man did not trade for his necessities; he traded for luxuries.

Every society must have—and maintain—a core competency sufficient to maintain it. Our basic industries are entirely analogous to organs of the body. We wouldn’t want to out-source our livers, lungs, or hearts. Matters of this sort cannot be left to the whims of a free market. Put this way, all this is obvious. It should therefore also be obvious that we must protect indigenous basic industries. As the Indians lived from the buffalo and pumpkin, and maize, so the U.S. economy has been based on agriculture and manufacturing. Manufacturing, in turn, rests on mining and forestry. These are the minima—and if we wish to maintain an advanced modern economy, we must be willing to make whatever sacrifices are needed to maintain these activities in a healthy state. 

In this endeavor two ways of looking at the world come into conflict. One is traditional and organic: the community viewed as a whole, viewed, indeed, as one body. The other is based on a mental structure known as the free market or the hidden hand. As we contemplate that hanging looming ahead a fortnight out, it is beneficial to remember that markets serve the community, not the community the market. To be sure, even if we let our industries crumble into dust, the community will survive. But how many among us, always eager to vote for lower or no taxes, minimal or no government, would be willing to vote for a lifestyle based on hunting or gathering?   

———————

†Stringer, Christopher and Clive Gamble, In Search of the Neanderthals, Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1993, p. 208.

luister en/of download op SOUNDCLOUD

1. Fragment One (…And I Kept Hearing) – Kenneth Bager ft. Gisli
2. Township Funk (Mark Pritchard’s version Excursion) – dj Mujava
3. Illicity pt 1 – Extended Spirit
4. Birds of a feather – Mocky
5. Baby – Jay Dilla ft. Madlib & Guilty Simpson
6. Way down – N.A.S.A. ft RZA, Barbie Hatch & John Fruscianti)
7. Masengo – Mulatu Asteka & The Heliocentrics
8. The Sweetest – Nightmares On Wax
9. Cyclotron – Harmonic 313
10. Car Thief – Beastie Boys
11. When the sun goes down – Kero One ft. Ben Westbeech
12. Garactic mellow (Grooveman mix) – Cro Magnon
13. Nice up the function (remix) – Mr Scruff and Roots Manuva
14. Melt! – Flying lotus
15. Requiem pour un Comme – Serge Gainsbourg
16. The Rink – Theo Parrish
17. A little bit of feel Good (Dorian Concept Remix) – Jamie Lidell
18. Maybe so, maybe no – Mayer Hawthorne
19. Love me like this (nononsense dub) – Floating Points
20. Ride me high ( Joakim edit) – JJ Cale
21. Futuristic Abbeba – Naco Patrol
22. 45.0000 dollar (Guapa Pasea) – Gecko Turner
23. Hot hot summerday (ugly edits) – Theo Parrish
24. Honey (Seji mix) – Erykah Badu

Serie Globalización

Extraída de la Sección Geopolítica de La Enciclopedia Latinoamericana

Actualizada a Mayo  2009

By Juan Chamero, Caece University at Buenos Aires, Argentine,May 10^th  2009

Globalización V

El hombre de Neanderthal versus el hombre de Cro-Magnon

Genocidios

 Una serie de Divulgación científica

A pocos días del pavoroso atentado del 11 de septiembre estaba en el gimnasio practicando una milenaria rutina, el Ba Duan Jin, que hace a la ecuanimidad psicofísica y que requiere justamente un ambiente sereno, ecuánime. Estaba encendida la TV, algo absolutamente desaconsejable pero que es un lugar común de nuestra cultura, hacer algo y simultáneamente escuchar o ver un programa, hecho siempre para llamar nuestra atención. Como había otra gente practicando no tuve más remedio que ver por TV lo que se estaba pasando en ese momento. Afortunadamente era una serie del Discovery Channel que se refería a la coexistencia de dos culturas, la del hombre de Neanderthal y la del hombre de Cro-Magnon, algo que siempre me apasionó. La práctica del Ba Duan Jin requiere que no nos “enganchemos” en distracciones, es decir, dejarlas “pasar”. Eso se llama wu- wei, literalmente dejar pasar en Chino. En situaciones similares las distracciones no me afectaban y todo lo que miraba pasaba sin prácticamente dejar rastro en mi conciencia.

No obstante, ya sea por la sensación de angustia que todos estamos viviendo -actualmente estoy residiendo en USA con mi familia- o por algún mensaje particularmente singular, la escena me atrapó, pasando la práctica a un segundo plano. Me puse a pensar acerca de cuál sería el mensaje que me estaba inquietando tanto como para incluso acelerar mi ritmo cardíaco. Era algo que estaba empezando a intuir y deseaba comunicarlo a otras personas.

 El hombre de Neanderthal versus el hombre de Cro-Magnon

 El hombre de Neanderthal era una especie humana que pobló la tierra hace 40.000 a 100.000 años atrás, que dejó de existir aunque coexistió con el hombre de Cro-Magnon, del cual nosotros seríamos sus descendientes con el nombre de “hombre moderno”. Aunque esto no sea exactamente preciso desde el punto de vista científico, lo que se sabe a ciencia cierta es que ambas especies difieren genéticamente pese a ser ambas muy desarrolladas desde el punto de vista de su evolución cerebral: ambas podrían haber sido el ancestro colectivo de lo que hoy somos, el “homo sapiens sapiens” o simplemente humano ó homo sapiens. El hecho es que el hombre de Neanderthal desaparece, según la serie sugería, exterminado por el hombre de Cro-Magnon.

 ¿Qué tenía el hombre de Cro-Magnon de superior?. Aparentemente no mucho: las inteligencias eran similares y hasta podría decirse que para algunas situaciones analizadas por los antropólogos era superior la del hombre de Neanderthal, pero el hombre de Cro-magnon tenía una superior capacidad de socialización y/o de comunicación y recientemente algunos antropólogos cifran su supervivencia en su base alimentaria de pescados en lugar de carnes rojas.

 Discovery Channel es un lugar de excelencia en cuanto a divulgación científica y no me consta ni creo que el tema haya sido activado en éstas circunstancias dramáticas, pero lo que estaba viendo me impresionó como un mensaje peligroso y más aún en un momento que se habla de choque de culturas (ver en nuestros informes anteriores las referencias sobre Samuel P. Huntington (The Clash of Civilizations).

 Tengamos cuidado con las analogías y estemos prevenido con mensajes de supuestas superioridades. “Ex – antes” de la hipotética confrontación entre el hombre de Neandertal y el hombre de Cro-Magnon, ¿quién hubiera podido adivinar quién iba a ser el vencedor?. Además, en éste caso estamos hablando de un conflicto que hipotéticamente podría extenderse a un enfrentamiento cultural dentro de la misma especie y en el cual, por la masa y poder de los actores, cualquier victoria sería seguramente una “victoria a lo Pirro”, con la posible extinción de la especie humana.

 ¿Las culturas inevitablemente chocan o se compenetran?

 Tenemos el ejemplo positivo de dos culturas muy disímiles, -dentro de la misma especie humana -, la Occidental y la del Lejano Oriente, que pese a sus diferencias culturales, se están comprendiendo e ínter penetrando cada día en mayor grado. Las diferencias, explicitadas por pensadores y filósofos durante las últimas décadas del siglo XX, eran tales que a los intelectuales del Lejano Oriente se les hacía cuesta arriba entender a Aristóteles o a Platón y ocurría algo similar a los intelectuales de Occidente para entender el a Lao Tsé o a los maestros Zen, siendo ambos entendimientos cruciales para una mutua comprensión cultural. 

Hoy estamos ante un posible enfrentamiento con otra cultura de la cual conocemos muy poco, menos que sobre la del Lejano Oriente: la cultura Islámica. Nuestra ignorancia al respecto es lamentable. Miremos cualquier libro de Historia Universal y veamos qué porcentaje le dedica  a ésta cultura. Hasta antes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial ocurría algo similar con las culturas China y Japonesa: se le dedicaba a la historia de esos pueblos unas pocas páginas, 1% a la prehistoria, otro 1% a la historia de China Japón y a otros países de la región y el restante 92% dedicado a Europa y algo de América. Dentro de éste panorama de ignorancia, el Islam ocupa menos de ese espacio, siendo una cultura que le disputó durante siglos la hegemonía a Occidente y que solo en España dominó por espacio de 8 siglos.

 ¿Qué sabemos del Islam?

 Poco y nada. Hoy Occidente se está asentando en lo religioso y en ese sentido, al menos sus dos grandes religiones están empezando a entenderse, el Cristianismo y el Judaísmo. Casi me atrevería a decir que son tres las corrientes religiosas que se están  compenetrando, Cristianismo, Judaísmo y Ateísmo racional al cual con ciertas licencias podríamos considerar como religión. Tal es así que hoy es lugar común hablar de las raíces  judeo cristianas de nuestra civilización y así nos tildan con ira los musulmanes radicalizados.

Al respecto, debemos plantearnos seriamente cuáles son en realidad nuestras diferencias culturales con el Islam, profundizar en ellas y elaborar un modelo de coexistencia pacífica y porqué no, de compenetración cultural. Esto es, sin dudarlo, una necesidad en grado esencial pues si aspiramos a conservar todas las especies vivas del planeta, desde un hongo hasta nuestras mascotas, sería peligrosamente irracional alimentar un pensamiento de confrontación, de dominio o de exterminio de semejantes por diferencias culturales.

¿Hemos olvidado el horror de las guerras?

Mientras no seamos tan salvajes como para destruir nuestras redes de comunicaciones, aprovechemos al máximo las posibilidades que nos brindan y leamos en la Web sobre el horror de las guerras, lo que hemos hecho nosotros o nuestros padres en las últimas guerras, a fin de comprender los extremos peligrosos a los que puede llegar el hombre exacerbado.

 No repliquemos al horror con el horror pues eso nos conducirá a la extinción de la especie humana. Es función de todos establecer diálogos y de hacer conocer tanto lo bueno como lo malo aunque lo primero no sea “noticia” ni “negocio” y de identificar a los intereses que pueden interferir con los procesos del entendimiento mutuo. Al respecto, escuché el otro día a un comentarista diciendo en una radio de Miami que debajo de Jesús y de Mahoma corren ríos de petróleo. Ese es un caso concreto de interés.

Hay que identificar lo que queremos, lo que quieren las mayorías

 Hoy no me cabe duda de que la inmensa mayoría de los cristianos quieren la paz y que jamás ha pasado por las mentes del cristiano común un enfrentamiento genocida con el Islam y tampoco me cabe duda de que la inmensa mayoría del pueblo judío quiere vivir en paz con sus vecinos árabes y que la inmensa mayoría de los musulmanes rechaza un enfrentamiento suicida del tipo Jihad versus Cruzados, algo que solo pasa por las mentes calenturientas de unos poco (ver al respecto Jihad versus Cruzada en El Andalus, como ideología guerrera)

Si nos dejamos llevar por mentes exaltadas impulsadas por mezquinos intereses nos vamos a ver todos enfrascados en una guerra total que no queremos. En números, hay hoy 1300 millones de cristianos y 1.100 millones de musulmanes y ambos mega pueblos están cultural, política y geográficamente ínter penetrados. Por ejemplo, en Latinoamérica hay unos 6 millones de musulmanes y otro tanto en Estados Unidos y a su vez, en los países de mayorías musulmanas, hay al menos 50 millones de cristianos, judíos y de otras religiones.

El Siglo XX ha sido el Siglo de los Genocidios

Oremos fervientemente: ¡Nunca más!

Del sitio Web La Guía Maestra del Holocausto

Nota de la Redacción: Estuve tentado de no  poner esta imagen tan terrible denominada “Los últimos Pasos” del artista – víctima – testigo David Olere. Representa los últimos pasos de tres personas destinadas a morir asesinados en las cámaras de gas ayudándose entre si para el postrer sacrificio. Decidí ponerla para que cale hondo en nuestras mentes y nos reitere en un grito de NUNCA MÁS!.

El siglo XX nos ha dejado un fuerte sabor amargo. Ha sido un siglo de genocidios, raciales, políticos, económicos y religiosos, un siglo que ha amalgamado en forma indecente el rutilante progreso técnico científico con los más perversos genocidios y las más perversas violaciones a los más elementales derechos humanos. Invitamos al lector a recorrer una serie de lugares que hemos escogido en Internet sobre éste tema.

 Infórmese y vea que los genocidios no tienen demasiado que ver con derechas o izquierdas sino con el propósito perverso de consolidar el poder en manos de unos pocos, sean estos de “derecha” o de “izquierda” y de cualquier religión.

El nazismo eliminó a más de 20 millones de personas, pero el comunismo no se quedó corto eliminando a unos 60 millones de “disidentes”, aunque en ese total hay 35 millones de Chinos. Al respecto, quién no ha escuchado cínicos comentarios tales como “después de todo  los Chinos son muchos y además están habituados a coexistir con la muerte”.

Algunas estadísticas tenebrosas que hemos extraído de Internet

Alemania Nazi (El Holocausto -  La Shoah): 21 millones: judíos, rehenes, prisioneros de guerra, gitanos, homosexuales, disidentes, religiosos

Se calcula que murieron víctimas de este exterminio 6 millones de judíos, aparte de unos 800.000 gitanos, 4 millones de prisioneros de guerra soviéticos o víctimas de la ocupación (fueron también objeto de exterminio sistemático), polacos e individuos calificados de asociales de varias nacionalidades (presos políticos, homosexuales, discapacitados físicos o psíquicos, delincuentes comunes, etc.). La exactitud de las cifras de muertos es dudosa, pero las aproximaciones oficiales son las siguientes:

polacos judíos (15,56 %) y no judíos (13,78 %)

alemanes judíos (13,33 %)

eslavos ( 26,66 %)

prisioneros de guerra soviéticos (17,78 %)

gitanos ( 3,56 %), y alemanes «arios» opositores políticos (generalmente personas con ideas de *izquierda y librepensadores) (6,67 %)

discapacitados (1,34 %)

homosexuales (1,12 %)

Comunismo Soviético (Gulag): Rusia: 15 millones de “disidentes”, rebeldes, minorías étnicas, religiosos

Comunismo Chino: Campos concentración China: 35 millones de “disidentes”,rebeldes,  minorías étnicas, religiosos

Japón: 6 millones de Chinos y de otros países de Asia

Turquía: asesinato de 1,9 millones de Armenios cristianos

Cambodia: 2 millones asesinados por el Kmher Rouge

Corea del Norte: 2 millones

África: 1,7 millones, por supremacías tribales y políticas

Afganistán: 1,5 millones

Vietnam: 1 millón

Europa del Este: 1 millón

Polonia: 1,6 millones por “depuración étnica”

Pakistán: 1,5 millones por motivos religiosos

Mariscal Tito  en Yugoslavia: 1,2 millones, para mantener a Yugoslavia “unida”

Rwanda: “politicidio”, sin cifras

Bosnia: sin cifras

Croacia: sin cifras

 Sitios recomendados

• Remember.org –  La Memoria – El Cibersitio del Holocausto, dedicado a los 6,5 millones de judíos asesinados por los nazis y a otros 5 millones frecuentemente ignorados.
• El Centro Simón Wiesenthal, dedicado también al Holocausto y al mantenimiento de la memoria del pueblo judío.
• El Museo a la Memoria del Holocausto de Estados Unidos, en Washington.
• Sitio dedicado a la tolerancia religiosa de About.com, su sección sobre el genocidio en el mundo que trae un detalle de los genocidios desde el año 1450 al presente. Recomendamos verlo y que cada uno medite sobre los horrores perpetrados por personas de SU religión. Es adecuado para una profunda autocrítica, y para luego pedir humildemente perdón como hizo el Papa Juan Pablo II.
• Museo de Genocidios, orientado al genocidio soviético y comunista en general.

Tags: genocidio, Neanderthal, cro-magnon, genocidios, shoah, discovery channel, Ba duan jin, choque de civilizaciones, Samuel P Huntington, The clash of civilizations, homo sapiens, homo sapiens sapiens, humano, hombre moderno, capacidad de socialización, capacidad de comunicación, choque de culturas, Lao Tse, maestros zen, victoria a lo pirro, lejano oriente, islam, el andalus, jihad, cruzadas, jihad versus cruzadas, jihad versus cruzados, judeo cristianismo, judeo critianos, jihad, cruzadas, Jesús. Mahoma, ríos de petróleo, ideología guerrera, siglo de los genocidios, la guía maestra del holocausto, holocausto, davis olere, nazismo, exterminio, cámaras de gases, Alemania nazi, polacos judíos, alemanes judíos, prisioneros de guerra, gitanos, exterminio de librepensadores, gulag, comunismo chino, armenios cristianos,  rwanda, bosnia, Croacia, temeber.org, la memoria, centro simón Wiesentahl, simón wiesentahl, genocidio en el mundo, museo a la memoria del holocausto, Juan pablo II, perdón de Juan pablo II, museo de genocidios,

Nous avons besoin d’une élite.

Ce mot pourrait faire peur. Mais il ne doit pas en être ainsi.

Il nous faut une élite intellectuelle, une élite à créer, inexistante à l’heure actuelle.

Pour commencer, nous devons pouvoir redonner le gout à l’étude, à la passion de l’écriture, de la logique, du calcul, du savoir.

Il nous faut commencer très tôt, dès la maternelle.

Il nous faut préparer une armée de psychologues, d’éducateurs capables :

1. d’intéresser
2. de donner le gout d’apprendre

Il nous faut être capable de découvrir les talents de demain.

Ces talents sont multiples, que ce soit des artistes, des musiciens, des écrivains ou des poètes…. Mais aussi des chefs, des ingénieurs, des artisans….Des chercheurs, des scientifiques….des découvreurs.

Mais il est une race à part vers laquelle nous devons tourner tous nos efforts : les synthétiques.

Aujourd’hui, noyés sous le flot d’informations, submergés par les possibilités gargantuesques de lectures, de divertissements, de culture, nous ne sommes pas capables de prendre le temps d’analyser, de synthétiser et d’en sortir la substantifique moelle…

Or, malgré les capacités de plus en plus importantes des logiciels informatiques, des systèmes de reconnaissances des données, de Google, nous sommes incapables aujourd’hui, faute de “spécialistes génériques”, de relier l’ensemble de nos connaissances afin de proposer à la fois de nouvelles pistes de recherche, ou d’arriver ç ka réalisation de projets communs.

Cela est du à un manque de connaissance individuelle, à une diminution de la lecture d’intérêt scientifique, mais surtout à une surspécialisation dans une ou deux matières, afin d’essayer (de manière improbable) d’en appréhender l’ensemble.

Ce n’est pas suffisant. La société qui demain gagnera sera celle capable de mettre en œuvre un ou des projets communs découverts grâce à une mise en commun des moyens et connaissances, reliés par une approche globale et synthétique.

C’est urgent, et permettrait de rattraper ou d’éviter beaucoup d’erreur, de perte de temps et de données.

Mais il nous faut commencer par le début : la formation de nouveaux esprits à de nouvelles pratiques intellectuelles, encore à inventer.

A ce propos, pourquoi dans la nouvelle génération, chacun ne pourrait il avoir sa chance de parvenir à ce stade ou cet état ? Il nous faut donner les moyens d’éviter de perdre tant de capacités intellectuelles.

Sinon, dans quelques centaines d’années, nous reviendrons au stade de l’homme de Cro-Magnon. Notre cerveau parait il n’a pas beaucoup évolué depuis ….)

Upper Paleolithic European representational art began by at least 35,000 years ago and became intense 15,000-10,000 years ago.  Perhaps, the most prominent portable art was in the form that has become known as Venus figurines.  These are sculptures of women.  They are not portraits but rather faceless idealized representations of well fed, healthy, usually pregnant nude women with exceptionally large buttocks and breasts.  Because of these exaggerated sexual characteristics, they are thought by most paleoanthropologists to be ritual objects symbolizing female fertility.  Many of these stylized carvings are reminiscent of modern abstract art.  Venus figurines were made from around 35,000 years ago down to the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago.  They have been found from Western Europe all of the way to Siberia.  Most were small enough in size to be easily hand held.  The Venus of Laussel shown below on the right is a rare exception.

.:Source:.

PBS.ORG

Silex, sursa:http://prehistoire.e-monsite.com/rubrique,paleoliticul,1101567.html

Etimologia cuvântului ,,paleolitic” provine de la două cuvinte din greacă: ,,lithos”=piatră şi ,,palaios”=vechi. Paleoliticul este cea mai lungă şi cea mai veche perioadă din istoria omenirii.

 Specialiştii au împărţit paleoliticul în trei faze: paleoliticul inferior, paleoliticul mijlociu şi paleoliticul superior. Cadrul cronologic al paleoliticului corespunde pleistocenulu( prima perioadă a cuaternarului). Acesta fost marcat de patru mari glaciaţiuni din Alpii Elveţiei(Gunz, Mindel, Riss, Wurm).

 Cuarţit, sursa:http://prehistoire.e-monsite.com/rubrique,paleoliticul,1101567.html

Dacă pentru evoluţia climatului şi a faunei din România avem la dispoziţie multe date, nu acelaşi lucru putem spune despre aspectul fizic al omului din paleolitic. De exemplu nu avem nici un fel de decoperire a vreunui os uman care să dateze din paleoliticul superior, iar dacă vorbim de paleoliticul mijlociu s-au găsit doar câteva falange în peştera Bordu din Ohaba-Ponor.

 S-au mai descoperit la peştera din Cioclovina câteva obiecte din silex, datând din aurignacian( denumirea provine de la o peşteră din Franţa numită Aurignac).  În Transilvania deasemenea s-au mai descoperit amprentele uni bărbat, a unei femei şi a unui copil care aveau trăsăturile uni om de tip Cro-Magnon. Economia comunităţilor paleolitice era bazată pe pescuit, expolatarea naturală a resurselor şi în special vânătoarea.

Obsidian, sursa:http://prehistoire.e-monsite.com/rubrique,paleoliticul,1101567.html

Paleoliticul mijlociu( sau musterianul) s-a dezvoltat între cca.100.000-33.000 î.H. În această perioadă s-au folosit foarte mult uneletele din silex, cuarţ cuarţit şi obisidian( acesta era adus din Tokaj, Ungaria). S-au mai folosit, însă foarte puţin piese din os. În peştera de la Ohaba-Ponor s-au descoperit urmele unor animale carnivore( pantera, hiena,ursul de peşteră), dar şi ierbivore( cerbul, căprioara). În Moldova pe cursul mijlociu al Prutului s-au descoperit aşezări musteriene, dar cele mai importante au fost cele de la Mitoc şi Ripiceni.

Venus din Willendorf( Austria), sursa:http://prehistoire.e-monsite.com/rubrique,paleoliticul,1101567.html

Odată cu sfârşitul paleoliticului mijlociu, în România se dezvoltă paleoliticul superior. În această perioadă se dezvoltă două culturi importante: cea aurignaciană şi cea gravettiană. În Banat au fost descoperite unelte din silex, care demonstrează o strânsă legătură cu, culturile aurignaciene din centrul Europei. Gravettianul oriental se dezvoltă în mai multe etape în Moldova, Banat( Porţile de Fier), Maramureş şi Ţara Oaşului.

 Paleoliticul în România reprezintă o sinteză culturală extraordinară între culturile locale şi cele din Europa, mai ales dacă ne raportăm la paleoliticul superior. Însă cunoaştem foarte puţine lucruri despre paleoliticul inferior datorită puţinelor descoperiri arheologice.

De reţinut este faptul că uneltele erau confecţionate în cea mai mare parte din cuarţ, cuarţit, silex şi obsidian, iar principalele activităţi erau vânătoarea, expolatarea resurselor miniere şi vânătoarea( care se realiza fie direct, fie prin plasarea capcanelor).

Statuetă feminină de la Dolni Vestonice( Cehia), sursa:http://prehistoire.e-monsite.com/rubrique,paleoliticul,1101567.html

My friend Cheryl says this is her favorite series of books and has been telling me I should read them for years. I started this one a few years ago and couldn’t get into it at the time. But recently we talked about it again, and I picked it back up. This time, I am really digging it! The series is called Earth’s Children, and it “investigates the possibilities and some likely interactions of Neanderthal and modern Cro-Magnon humans living near each other at the same time.” It’s a fictional story about a little human girl who loses her family in an earthquake and is found by a Neanderthal medicine woman and nursed back to health. She is eventually adopted by the Clan.

I can’t even imagine the amount of research that must have gone into these books, but it is really interesting to me to learn more about how people at that time lived and interacted and survived using the land. Auel is skilled at interspersing the story with scientific details that help explain her characters without detracting your attention from the story. And it’s fascinating to learn about the differences between humans and Neanderthals through a story that imagines their interaction.

Upon having a drink with Jenny and Taper Nerd the other night, we discovered that Taper Nerd is also reading this right now! Strange that we’d both be reading the same book at the same time, especially because it was published almost 30 years ago. He’s farther along than I am so far, and he said he felt it was beginning to get a little predictable. These are thick books with small print, so I am going to need to be pretty blown away at the end of this first one if I’m going to read all six of them!

     Pourquoi refuser le rêve de Cro-Magnon et pousser la recherche du bonheur jusqu’à l’extrême onction ?

     Parce que l’Homme est homme et qu’il ne peut nier ses origines génétiques !

     L’Homme moderne vit dans un état de perpétuel coït interrompu, si on le compare à ses prédécesseurs.

     En effet, malgré l’apparente évolution entourant l’Homo sapiens, dit homme moderne, ses instincts primaires sont demeurés semblables à ceux de ses premiers ancêtres, en l’occurrence : l’Homo ERECTUS.

     L’Homo erectus est considéré comme étant le premier homme véritable. On l’appelle aussi : homme dressé, car il est le premier de sa lignée à tenir droit debout. 

     En raison de ses conditions de vie, l’Homo erectus mène une vie beaucoup plus trépidante, torride et exaltante que l’Homo sapiens.

     L’Homo erectus partage sa vie entre ses deux seules passions : la chasse et le sexe.

     Avec plusieurs de ses amis, il chasse des animaux souvent féroces. Il attaque, presque à mains nues : de très dangereux rhinocéros ; de redoutables ours, panthères et lions ; et poursuit au pied de course de très rapides chevaux sauvages.

     Chaque jour, sans interruption, à la nuit tombée, repu, Homo erectus regagne sa grotte. Là, une plantureuse Homa erecta attend au coin du feu pour l’aider à redevenir un « homme dressé » ! 

     Le jour suivant, Homo erectus, rassasié de ses prises de la veille, repart, ragaillardi, chasser la bête. Plus son désir de s’alanguir sous la poigne ferme de son Homa erecta, plus la chasse est intense. Grrrrr !

     Alors, qui croit encore que l’homme moderne peut trouver le bonheur chez Wal-Mart quand il possède en lui des gênes d’Homo erectus ?

Taşlardan, topraklardan, madenlerden; bitkilerden, hayvanlardan insana kadar gelen bu süreç, ne türlü bir süreçtir? Bu akıl durdurucu görünümün altında yatan nedir?

Şimdi artık bu çok yalın doğa yasasını açık seçik biliyoruz. Milyonlarca yıl süren bu dramatik serüvenin altında yatan, doğanın evrensel evrim yasası’dır. Ama bu yasayı bilimsel olarak açıklayabilmek için Charles Darwin (1809-1882) gibi bir bilgin gerekiyordu.

Öküze, korunması için, boynuz verilmiş. Ya mürekkepbalığı korunmayacak mı? Onun da boyası var. Mürekkepbalığı öylesine boyar ki suyu, saldıranlar ne etseler onu bulamazlar. Boynuzsuz, boyasız tavşan da çevik bacaklarına güvenir. Kuşlar kanatlanıp uçarak kendilerini kurtarırlar. Ya boynuzsuz, boyasız, kanatsız, hantal bacaklı insan? Onu da usu (aklı) koruyacak. İyi ama neden kimine boynuz, kimine boya, kimine çevik bacak, kimine kanat, kimine us? Örneğin bütün varlıklar boynuzlu olamazlar mıydı?

Bu soruya Darwin’den çok önce Fransız bilgini Jean Lamarck (1744-1829) karşılık vermişti: Hayır, olamazlardı. Çünkü her varlık; içinde varlaştığı özdeksel koşullara göre oluşuyordu. Ne türlü koşullar içindeyse o türlü olmak zorundaydı. Kuşu varlaştıran koşullar çevik bacakları gerektirmediği gibi öküzü varlaştıran koşullar da usu gerektirmiyordu. Gereksinme (ihtiyaç) organ yaratmaktaydı. Buna karşı, artık gereksenmeyen organlar da köreliyor ve ortadan kalkıyorlardı. Ortamın zorlamasıyla meydana gelen özellikler kalıtımla kuşaklardan kuşaklara geçiyor, geçerken daha da gelişiyorlardı. Örneğin zürafa, önceleri otla beslendiği için normal boyunlu ve normal bacaklı bir hayvandı. Yaşadığı çevre çölleşince başka bir çevreye geçerek yiyeceğini yüksek dallardan sağlamak zorunda kalmıştı. O yüksek dallara erişebilmek için de zorunlu olarak bacakları ve boynu uzamıştı.

Ne var ki bu karşılık evrimi açıklamaya yetmiyordu. Daha başka ve haklı soruları da karşılayabilmek gerekiyordu. Çevresel koşulların etkisiyle varlaşan özellikler nasıl oluyor da kuşaklardan kuşaklara geçebiliyordu? Ortam adı verilen bilinçsiz bir güç bu kadar düzenli ürünler meydana getirebilir miydi?

Darwin’in büyük önemi, bu soruları bilimsel olarak karşılamasındadır. Darwin bu alana bol sayıda bilimsel kanıtlar getiriyor. Kendinden önce bu alanda çalışan Lamarck, Diderot, Robinet, Charles de Bonnet vb. gibi evrimcilerin kuramsal varsayımlarını düzeltiyor ve bilimsel olarak doğruluyor. Özellikle Lamarck’ın soyaçekim ve çevreye uyma varsayımlarını yepyeni doğal ayıklama ve yaşama savaşı bulgularıyla güçlendiriyor. Darwin’e göre yaşam kasırgası içinde ancak yaşama gücü olanlar canlı kalırlar ve türlerini sürdürürler. Bu, bir doğal ayıklanma ya da doğal seçme (selection naturelle)’dir. Yaşama savaşında ayakta kalanlar belli özellikler gösterenlerdir. Bu özellikler, soyaçekimle yeni kuşaklara geçmektedir, hem de daha gelişerek. Bitki ve hayvan yetiştirenler kuraldışı (müstesna) özellikler gösterenleri birbirlerine aşılaya aşılaya yeni türler elde ederler. İnsanların bile yapabildiği bu aşılamayı doğa daha kolaylıkla ve doğal olarak yapmaktadır.

Gerçekten de, bu seçim, doğumdan önce başlamaktadır. Örneğin bir insan yaratmak için iki yüz yirmi beş milyon erkek tohumu sekiz saat süren bir yarışa girişirler. Kadın yumurtası karanlık bir köşede gizlenmiştir. İki yüz yirmi beş milyon yarışçı arasından hangisi amaca daha önce varır, yumurtayı gizlendiği köşede bulabilirse, doğacak çocuğu o meydana getirecektir. Kazanan, en güçlüdür. Çünkü, en iyi koşucu, en iyi bulucu ve en iyi delici olarak üç sınavda da başarıya ulaşmıştır. En güçlü, en iyi, en uygun böylelikle seçilir ve yenilen iki yüz yirmi dört milyon dokuz yüz doksan dokuz bin dokuz yüz doksan dokuz olanak (imkan), doğal süpürgenin acımak bilmeyen süpürüşü önünde ölüp giderler. Cinsi yaşatan, sürdüren en güçlülerdir (Dr. Fritz Kahn, İnsan ve Hayat, s. 38). Darwin’e göre böylesine bir evrim sonunda hayvandan insana geçişte son hayvan halkası maymundur. İnsan, çok gelişmiş bir maymun türünün uygun koşullar altında evrimi sonunda meydana gelmiştir.

Bir fille bir kertenkelenin, bir insanla bir solucanın aynı soydan olduklarını hemen kavramak kolay değildir elbet. Prof. Alfred Weber, insanın bir maymun değişimi olduğunu bir türlü anlamak istemeyenlere: Utanmayın, diyor, aslandan ya da gül ağacından geldiğiniz söylenseydi, hiç kuşku yok, hoşunuza gidecekti. Kutsal Kitap size, yüzyıllarca, bir toprak külçesinden var olduğunuzu söyleyip durdu da niçin utanmadınız? (Felsefe Tarihi, s. 345- 346). Gerçekte insanla hayvan arasında, sanıldığı kadar, büyük bir uçurum yoktur. Hayvanın insana oranı, tomurcuğun çiçeğe oranı gibidir.

Antropoloji bilgini Sir Arthur Keith şöyle diyor: Darwinisme’i maymundan hemen insana geçivermiş bir evrim zinciri olarak anlamak yanlıştır. Büyük insan familyasının çeşitli gruplara ve bu grupların da çeşitli türlere ayrıldığı bir eski dünya düşünün. Bugün maymunlar nasıl büyüklü küçüklü çeşitli gruplar halinde görünüyorlarsa, o eski dünyanın insanları da öyle görünmekteydiler. İşte bu çeşitli türler girdabı içinde bir tür, yaşama kavgasından artakalarak bugünkü insan türünü meydana getirmiştir (A. Keith, İnsanlığın Eskiliğine Dair).

Darwin kuramı, evrene altı bin yıllık bir yaş biçen, gökle yer arasındaki bütün varlıkların altı gün içinde yaratıldığını bildiren Kutsal Kitapları kökünden çürütmektedir. Ondokuzuncu yüzyılın bütün dincileri, bu yüzden, Darwin’e geniş çapta tepki göstermişlerdir. Oxford Piskoposu Wilberforce, Darwin’i savunan Th. Huxley’e, kendisinin baba yönünden mi, yoksa ana yönünden mi maymundan geldiğini sormaktadır. Huxley, bu kabalığa şu karşılığı veriyor: Bilimsel gerçekleri baltalamak için diller döken bir adamın soyundan gelmektense, alçakgönüllü ve haddini bilen bir maymunun soyundan gelmeyi tercih ederim (A. Adıvar, Tarih Boyunca İlim ve Din, c. II, s. 109). Yurdumuzda da bu kuramı tanıtmaya çalışan Ahmet Mithat Efendi’nin yazılarına karşı o günün hükümeti şu buyruğu vermiştir: Ahmet Mithat Efendinin maymunlarına dair matbuata zinhar nesne yazdırılmaması…

Antropoloji alanındaki son bulgular günümüzden 400 milyon yıl önceki Silür döneminde deniz hayvanlarının yaşadığını, 300 milyon yıl önceki Karbon döneminde kara bitkilerinin belirdiğini, 150 milyon yıl önceki Jura döneminde dinozorlarla sürüngenlerin göründüğünü, 60 milyon yıl önceki Eosen döneminde de maymun ve ilerde insanlaşması muhtemel primatların çoğaldığını meydana koymuştur. Bu çağlardan kalma fosil kalıntıları, günümüzden 35 milyon yıl önceki Oligosen döneminde yaşamış olan Aegyptopitehecus Zeuxis’in insanlaşmayı hazırlayan maymun türlerinden Drvopithecus’ün atası olabileceği kanısını uyandırmıştır. Dryopithecus Africanus adı verilen bu maymun türüyse, günümüzden 25 milyon yıl önceki Miosen döneminde yaşamıştı. Bu çağda bulunan Ramapitehecus punjabicus ve Kenyapithecus Africanus’ün insan türünü meydana getirecek olan ilk insanımsılar (Latince: Hominidae) oldukları sanılmaktadır. 12 milyon yıl önceki Pliosen döneminden hiçbir fosil bulunamamışsa da 3 milyon yıl önceki Pleistosen döneminden ilk insanlaşan maymun grubu olduğu sanılan Australopithecus fosilleri bulunmuştur. Çünkü, bunlara gelinceye dek bütün maymun grupları çoğunlukla ağaçlarda yaşarken bu grubun yerde yaşadığı saptanmıştır. Bu maymun-insan fosillerinin ilki 1924 yılında Rodezya’da bulunmuştu. Daha sonra bu türden düzinelerle fosil meydana çıkarılmıştır. Bu fosillerle birlikte bunlarca yapıldığı sanılan yontulmuş çakıl taşları da bulunmuştur. Pleistosen döneminin üçüncü buz çağından önce insan tüzünün geniş ölçüde yayıldığı sanılmaktadır. Neandertal adamı bu ilk insanlardan biridir ve Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis adıyla anılmaktadır. Bu dönemin dördüncü buz çağı Neandertal adamını hemen tümüyle yok etmiştir. Ama, bu çağ sona ermeden Homo sapiens sapiens adı verilen gerçek insanlar dünya üstünde görünmüşlerdir. Sürüp gitmekte olan soyumuzun ataları bunlardır. Bu insanlar çeşitli ırklar halinde var olmuşlardır. Bu ırkların ilki de Cro-Magnon ırkıdır.

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Devamı Gelecek

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