Man and Mini-Man
BBC NEWS | Magazine | Eton or the zoo? Desmond Morris' article on the implications of the discovery of a new species of human is worth reading.
In theory, the existence of Mini-Man should destroy religion, but I can already hear the fanatics claiming that he has been put on earth by the Devil simply to test our faith.
And can we stop calling them hobbits please? Hobbits made up, mini-men real. Although Homo floresiensis is a bit of a mouthful and spelling nightmare.
And from the Guardian more on this incredible discovery.
Russell Ciochon, a paleoanthropologist from the University of Iowa, says: "I suspect that creationists will act very negatively toward this discovery.
"It shows that humans were not alone. There may be other dwarfed species lurking in the caves of other isolated islands. Each new discovery will subtract some essence from the uniqueness of humans. I wonder if this discovery might even be discussed in our current political campaign? It is no secret that Bush is anti-evolution. If he is smart, he will not touch this one."
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3 Comments:
Just the fact that we either love each other, hate each other or are indifferent to each other, while interacting, showing emotions and dealing with REAL things, should be the basis for the destruction of religion. But, alas, like the downfall of the monarchy and the overthrow of the capitalist system in general, the struggle is hard and the struggle is long.
I remind readers of this fine blog of a piece I put on my own site some weeks ago:
" (The Times - UK)
Belgrade: Ljilana Colic, the Serbian Education Minister, has ordered schools to stop teaching the theory of evolution to children this year, and to resume teaching it in future only if it shares equal billing with creationism. Nikola Tucic, a biology lecturer at Belgrade University, called the ruling a disaster."
Hands up those who thought bombing the shit out of what was the last bastion of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism in Europe was a progressive move!!On reflection I don't think that it will make the slightest difference to creationists (not that all religious people are creationists, some are more choosy about what gibberish they believe). After all the main impact of this discovery is that it consists of intelligent tool-making beings who were not human. The same is true of neanderthals and other relatives of humanity. Neanderthals were also co-existent on the planet with us. We may have wiped them out, we may even have bred with them, but there is not enough evidence to confirm this yet. The only difference between homo floresiensis and neanderthals is therefore the fact that hf is much more recent, surviving into the modern age possibly. Even perhaps still with us though I personally doubt it.
Oh, and I didn't support the bombing of yugoslavia. It was an action that marked the first steps of America's new world order and led to where we are today. Nor however would I share your rosy view of it either though.If this small ape-like species were so difficult to find how come they managed to get one of their own elected to the Whitehouse eh? And will it still be there on Wednesday morning? Or does it have a wee hairy brother to rig the vote on the sly?
By
Kevin Williamson, at 1:04 pm
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