Will humans be a dead end on the phylogenetic tree?
I ask such a question armed with knowledge as a philosophically-minded scientific thinker. We are the only human species alive today. It is such a simple fact, of course known by most of the 7.4 billion people on earth…but what does it truly mean?
Hominins. We are alone on the planet. Thousands of bones have been dug up, uncovering the history of human-like past, yet we are left as sole survivors. There are over six classified species of apes-whom remain simultaneously inhabiting the earth. Our lonely existence is not justified.
Given the knuckle-walking locomotion of our hairiest and closest relative, it is not surprising that we diverged from chimpanzees close to eight million years ago. Yet, hominin skeletal remains have allowed us to identify close to 10 human-like species whose remains have sedimented throughout the past few million years.
The adaptive radiation debate does not faze me. All species are subject to such selective pressures as environmental conditions are constantly variable and affect all. Yet, there survive four great ape species. We survive as one: human.
Does such a fact not spur the plausibility of our innate aggressive nature? Surely more than one species should have been capable of withstanding evolution alongside us. However, as I believe to be both under-hypothesized and under-argued, is it not logical to assume that our branch of "species "overcame the others -- physically and/or intellectually -- in a specifically militant manner?
As our aggressive species stood as lone survivor, evolution created humans from a combative origin. Our threatening and arrogant-minded brains have been invariably inherited.
Viewing ourselves superior on the hierarchy of life, it seems appropriate that we would list other species feared headed towards extinction. Surely no one sees it fitting to inscribe us as head of this list as well. Yet, given our history, perhaps we should.
Humans have only been around some 200,000 years… civilization no more than 6,000 years. Industrialization has provided a short history of barely over 200 years. Since our independence day in 1776, America has been at war for 93 percent of the time. Put such facts into worldly perspective.
As an anatomically same species, and as the evolutionarily multiple-birth from an egotistical brain, such a failure to co-exist is not astounding. It leaves one with nothing else but to believe:
With no relevant species to annihilate, have we turned against ourselves? … we wonder why distinct cultures can’t even get along…
