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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (68812)	3/18/2003 10:17:12 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

> Could you point me in the direction of this evidence? Zonder -- Titles and names often escape me. The content does not. The evidence was along these lines. Discovered bodies of ancient homo-sapiens showed that those without teeth still managed to survive (and some had food in their stomach). In nature, not having teeth is equivalent of a death sentence. So this was evidence that others would chew food and feed them (read compassion). The belief in after life was inferred from the practice of burying/leaving the tools and belongings of the dead next to his body. There were other things that lend themselves to these argument but feeding the toothless and burying the tools were the most important ones, imo (just the practice of burying to save the body from animals can be considered evidence of both). I should point out that the book was not about religion and compassion of our ancestors. It was simply about the early humanoids and their life styles. But as I read about the different branches and tried to imagine life as it must have been, I began to realize the importance of these issues. They directed the evolution of humanity on a different path than the rest. > one widely respected theory about Neanderthals going extinct is that our ancestors exterminated them. I have read that and rebuttals to that as well. Either way it doesn't make a difference. Nobody ever argued that we are angels. There is for example evidence that in Oceania islands, early humans caused extinction of several species and in some cases they set the island on fire to catch their prey. However, there is also ample evidence that love and compassion are also part of our genes. BTW, I have also read that Neanderthals may not have been the brutes they are often pictured and could have been more interested in eating the dead. I hope this helps, Sun Tzu ...Scientific American used to have a quarterly magazine called "Scientific American Presents". I think one of the issues was about our ancestors and you should find some references there...also, if you search on evolutionary psychology and bioethics you may find leads.