When we read about human evolution, we eventually get to the part about humans becoming "modern" (i.e., reaching the Platonic ideal, the End of the Linean Line, The upper middle part Catechism's Great Chain of Being, the Archetype of the Repressed Middle Class, and all that other good stuff). That is the moment when we "Leave Africa." Africa must have felt pretty empty when modern humans left it back then.
But of course, that is a horrid misconception dripping with racism, blanketed in the cloth of falsehood, and riddled with incorrect facts, and now for the first time, smothered with metaphors. We did not leave Africa: We expanded beyond it's borders (not for the first time, I quickly note). And, the original and most impressive expansion of "modern humans" certainly occurred in Africa itself where our species adapted to a very wide range of conditions, more different, very different, habitats than any primate and most mammals ever before. Then after that, there seemed to be living space elsewhere, up in the upper right part of the human world, so that space got expanded into.
But I digress.
The point is that an exodus is underway and I'm all over it, but using the opportunity very differently from many others. Here's the story:
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
But of course, that is a horrid misconception dripping with racism, blanketed in the cloth of falsehood, and riddled with incorrect facts, and now for the first time, smothered with metaphors. We did not leave Africa: We expanded beyond it's borders (not for the first time, I quickly note). And, the original and most impressive expansion of "modern humans" certainly occurred in Africa itself where our species adapted to a very wide range of conditions, more different, very different, habitats than any primate and most mammals ever before. Then after that, there seemed to be living space elsewhere, up in the upper right part of the human world, so that space got expanded into.
But I digress.
The point is that an exodus is underway and I'm all over it, but using the opportunity very differently from many others. Here's the story:
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...