What is \"human\"? (Evolution)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 18, 2009, 14:29 (5514 days ago) @ dhw


> If we go back to Ardi, she may be more advanced than was expected, but advanced in what way? Does primitive bipedalism really make her more human? If we suppose, say, that changes in the vegetation led to certain anthropoids taking to the ground and walking upright ... or alternatively to certain anthropoids moving from the ground to the trees ... no matter what developments took place in the anatomy, without the enlarged brain wouldn't we still see them as more ape than human? -
The following article of opinion struggles to defend Darwin. No need to. Some ape-like ancestor of apes AND humans is back in the mists of time. The real issue is what will we really find: 1) an ape that has surprisingly hominin features, or 2) an ape that is quite ape-like with little trace of hominin for the future. At this juncture, no one knows, but ape-like it will be. The way the common ancestor will be identified (fossils don't come labeled as in the museum)is that there will be some anatomic mixture that gives a hint of future features.-http://blogs.sciencemag.org/origins/