Evolution: the presence of life evolves the Earth (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 11, 2020, 15:35 (1292 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Our presence has made enormous changes:
https://aeon.co/essays/revolutionary-archaeology-reveals-the-deepest-possible-anthropoc...

QUOTE: "...beginning in the Near East some 11,000 years ago, humans discovered how to control the reproduction of wheat and barley, which precipitated a rapid switch to farming. Within 500 to 1,000 years, a scattering of small farming villages sprang up, each with several hundred inhabitants eating bread, chickpeas and lentils, soon also herding sheep and goats in the hills, some keeping cattle.”

dhw: There is no question that the human species has had enormous influence on the planet. As an addition to this observation, I would like to mention a remarkable book, first published in 1988 by Yale University Press and still available: Peter J. Wilson, The Domestication of the Human Species, in which he argues that these discoveries were the root of our modern world – social, cultural, psychological, political etc.….The book is still available and highly recommended. The late author (who died in 2005) was Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and he was my brother.

Ah, more evidence of brilliance in the Wilson family. The present is always built on the past. Sounds like he was much more reasonable than Margaret Mead fooled by the islanders.