Humanitys Place in Evolution and Evolutions Place in Humanity

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Humanitys Place in EvolutionandEvolutions
Place in Humanity

• By Merritt Goodman, JoAnna Piscitello, Richard
  Robinson, Aaron McKinney, Elizabeth Jasperse

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The Gossiping Ape

• By
• Richard Robinson

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• Humans are a very social creatures.
• As a society we form everything from nations to
  tribes to clubs/organization

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The History of the African Guess

• In the 1860s Darwin began comparing humans to
  great apes.
• From this comparison, Darwin noticed a close
  resemblance between the two anatomies.
• This led Darwin to his African Guess in 1871.

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Evolution Stages (cont.)

• Stage 1 pushed the ancestors out of the forest
  and onto the African savannas (5 million years
  ago)
• Stage 2 Invention of the first stone tools (2.5
  million years ago)
• Stage 3 Massive hand axes were being constructed
  (1.5 million years ago)
• Stage 4 Mastery of fire and formation of spears
  and other tools (.5 million years ago)
• Stage 5 Cave paintings, jewelry, more cultural
  activities (50,000 years ago)

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Wandering Evolution

• As our ancestors moved through these transitions,
  they began to change habitats.
• As the habitats changed, the way we moved adapted
  as did our diets.
• These changes also affected the anatomy of the
  hominids.

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Wandering (cont.)

• About 2.5 million years ago, the first known homo
  appeared.
• these homos were the first to have features like
  opposable thumbs and big brains
• the first homo had a 50 larger brain than the
  hominids, relative to their body size
• At this point all traces of tree climbing were
  gone.
• This homo is known as Homo ergaster and is the
  first warrant the title human being

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Evolving a Theory of Mind

• Studies show that chimps have an understanding of
  some basic facts.
• These studies also show that the common ancestor
  of humans and chimps could not understand that
  they all had brains.
• As the habitat changed, bigger social groups
  began forming.

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Passions

• Some scientists suggest that the most basic
  behavior of hominids is the ability to find a
  mate
• Even a more select group believes that we are
  still ruled by the same behaviors today

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Not So Happily Ever After

• A male many offspring a female is limited
• As a result certain qualities are sought
• According to David Buss, UT psychologist, women
  prefer older men and men prefer younger women
  (Zimmer 278)
• Ian Penton Voak of St Andrews Univ. did a face
  test to find which type is more attractive to
  women

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Are You Cheating On Me?

• No obvious signal that lets people know that
  their mate is cheating
• The thought of sexual betrayal makes a mans
  heart beat 5 extra times a minutes (equivalent to
  3 cups of coffee)

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Toward Language

• As hominid bands expanded, their complexity grew
  as well
• Grooming
• Language is not a product of evolution
• Simply another way to express our alliances with
  one another

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The Dawn of Us
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In the Beginning

• 4.5 billion years ago
• 3.85 billion years ago
• 250 million years ago
• 600,000 years ago common ancestor of human
  species evolved
• Between 200,000-100,000-biologically modern
  humans evolved in Africa
• 50,000 years ago-left Africa and replaced all
  other human species.

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Old Theory of Evolution

• Claims that modern human evolution began a
  million years ago.
• A single human species, homo erectus, lived in
  Africa and spread throughout the world.
• Different regions continued to mate with one
  another so that no one group fragmented into
  another species.
• They evolved distinguished characteristics in
  relation to climate and eventually become modern
  humans within their particular region.

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New Theory of Evolution
VS.
Homo Erectus
Neanderthals

• -Two distinct species neither was the ancestor of
  the Homo Sapiens.
• -After a proposal that modern humans actually
  evolved out of African immigrants and that the
  three groups were actually distinct species,
  Allan Wilson analyzed mitochondrial DNA to
  determine different lineages.
• Wilson discovers Africa is the source of the
  common ancestor of living humans.
• Mitochondrial Eve-common African ancestor
  estimated somewhere in the neighborhood of
  200,000 years old.
• Scientists began formulating theory called Out
  of Africa

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Out of Africa

• As Homo spread out of Africa, it evolved into
  many distinct species that didnt breed with one
  another.
• Homo erectus-Asia
• Homo neanderthalensis- Europe and Near East
• While these species spread, Homo sapiens begin to
  evolve from older hominids back in Africa.
• Homo sapiens then began to spread to Asia and
  Europe.
• All other human species become extinct and homo
  sapiens survive.

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Cultural Evolution

• Something occurs, possibly population boom, that
  causes homo sapiens to invent modern tools and
  art, more advanced than that of the other homo
  species. (Brain Change)
• When Homo sapiens spread to the Homo erectus, the
  resident hominids may have pulled back into the
  inland jungles to find refuge.
• Culture continues to evolve. For example
  language, airplanes, music, mathematics, cooking,
  technology.
• Because people are spreading and mixing, it may
  be very hard for natural selection to produce
  much change. Evolution in modern humans has
  slowed drastically.
• Zimmer discusses the possibility of computers
  evolving an intelligence like our own and perhaps
  even a consciousness.

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