So now we know that early humans bred with Neanderthals and Denisovans. We know this because genome sequences from these “evolutionary cousins” make up from 4% to 6% of the genomes of some humans. And we’ve recently learned that some of the genetic material introduced by this cross-breeding included an upgrade of our immune system’s…
Celebrate Our Differences Diversity is one of the most powerful forces driving the success of the Human Constituency. Diversity is part of our species healthy core. Diversity has been on the rise throughout human history. We’re learning to celebrate our differences. Geographical barriers and racism once served to preserve human diversity. The xenophobia is deadly. …
Dangerous Denials If a general in command of forces engaged in an epic struggle for your survival, discounts and ignores vital reconnaissance because the new information contradicts his traditional perspectives, you insist that general be replaced by a leader who is willing to consider new possibilities. Those who close their minds to the history of human…
Seven Billion Members In less than 200 years, there’s been a 700% increase in the number of people living on earth. The human population of the earth reached a billion people for the first time in the early 1800’s. There were two billion of us around 1927, three billion in 1960, four billion in 1974,…
A study based on census data suggests that religion is heading toward extinction in nine nations: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland. Extinction is the wrong word to describe what’s happening in these nations. Biological extinction means a life form completely disappears. The census-takers asked people whether…
The prospect of a jobless world is terrifying. Just thinking about it inspires fear that queasy feeling in the pit of our stomachs we wish would go away. Apparently a jobless world is beyond imagining for most of our 7 billion-member human constituency. Explore the Internet, searching for predictions and solutions. You’ll find little speculation…
Six thousand to 7,000 years ago, the pairing of domesticated oxen and primitive plows triggered an agricultural revolution in the fertile Tigris and Euphrates valley. Before the plow, women using sticks and hoes were the managers of Mesopotamian agriculture. After the physically more challenging plow was adopted, men became the managers of agriculture in Mesopotamia….
Can you name the great historians of the 21st century? We don’t know their names, but we can make a reasonable guess about the primary focus of their inquiries. If humans have existed for 200,000 years, then humanity has 200,000 years of history. The great historians of the 21st century will focus on all of…
Human capacity to recognize, absorb and integrate new information about our history is limited, because we are rightfully preoccupied with the here and now; nervous about new information, which may undermine details of the history we believe in; unfamiliar with the methodologies used to verify the information’s accuracy; and uncertain that information about the long-term…
Human artifacts from 25,000 years ago were unimaginable until recently. History is the primary source of more accurate information about human nature. In studying it we find the roots of humanity’s strengths and weaknesses in order to build upon those strengths and defuse the self-destructive weaknesses. From the Deccan Herald, San Sebastian, Spain, Aug. 11,…