Becoming Human Episode 1 First Steps (NOVA)

[lordblazer]

So basically there were many different human species competing until there was only us. I swear this sounds like Highlander!!!!

[bembry409]

This is so interesting. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back for one day and see what things were really like

[MuchTooCoffeeman]

frogs sweat too right ?

atleast they do when i lick em, could be a evolutionary relationship between my tongue and the frogs. :F

[N00bcrunch3r]

48:40 Australopithecus didn't die out! It evolved into us!

[N00bcrunch3r]

I just have to wonder, how the fuck did we evolve to be so slow at running? I mean how did ancient humans hunt down game before the invention of projectile weapons?

[riflecow]

@N00bcrunch3r

Because we never directly out-ran our prey. The oldest form of hunt was called the persistence hunt, where the humans bipedal run allows its to basically run the prey into the ground through exhaustion. In fact, the Kalahari bushmen of Africa still use this hunting technique. You can even find videos on YouTube!!

[2eelShmeal]

@N00bcrunch3r Tracking. We kept after them, never giving them a chance to rest. This user has a video that shows exactly that. In the heat of the day, animals hang in the shade. Man knew this and sought out shade areas at the hottest point of the day. They got the animal running and then tracked it.

Animals with fur can only pant to get rid of heat and they cant do so while running. After about 4 or 5 hours the animal is exhausted and gives up. Humans aren't fast but go LONG DISTANCE. We sweat

[N00bcrunch3r]

@2eelShmeal

Hmm...well that is certainly NOT something most people could do today. I would collapse from exhaustion within an hour. But anyways, how did humans evolve to be so slow in first place. I know bipedal creature aren't as fast as quadrupeds, but even bipeds such as ostriches and emus can run in excess of 45 mph.

And no matter how much stamina you have, it doesn't really matter when you're being stalked by a predator you can't fight back and that runs twice as fast.

[2eelShmeal]

@N00bcrunch3r I'm sure that early humans were predated upon a lot. But being in groups and having fire sure must've helped. We evolved to think, not run. When you have a creative mind, you don't need to run.

And actually, the bushmen of Africa STILL do hunt that way today.

Why do you think a Kenyan always wins the marathon? Evolution baby.

People from colder climates can't run that long or fast, they don't need to. They plan ahead, store food, make shelters and fire.. etc. Africa's different.

[N00bcrunch3r]

@2eelShmeal

Early humans though, such as Homo habilis and early Homo erectus did not possess fire.

Yeah, I know the bushmen still do it to some extent these days.

[2eelShmeal]

@N00bcrunch3r I think you're right.... Neanderthal? Either way, they most likely had numbers and evolved ways to fend off animals much bigger and faster. They must have.. otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation... lol

Another thing..lol

Imagine a lion about to eat the last human on earth. Do you think he'd feel bad for making us extinct? So why should we, them? lol. If lions had their way, we'd be gone. I don't think the African locals would be too bummed if the lion went extinct.

[TheJamesrocket]

@2eelShmeal 'Do you think he'd feel bad for making us extinct? So why should we, them?' Its good that you see through the animal rights propaganda (because thats exactly what it is), but we should restrain ourselves from wiping out species. Preservation is important to the ecology of the planet, and besides, even at the top of the food chain (I.E, us), there is backlash from rocking the boat too much.

[2eelShmeal]

@TheJamesrocket LOL

I expected a worse reaction...phew!!

LOL Yes we should try to lessen our impact. Predators are good for the fitness of other species weeding out the lesser among them. That certainly is true. In fact, predation, next to environment, is the primary driving force of evolution.

But what species are left to strengthen? Did we not benefit from the extinction of major predators? LOL

But yes, we now sit comfortably in our homes and feel BAD for the poor lions that terrorized us.

[lordblazer]

@2eelShmeal

You do know Africans have the most genetic diversity among humans. more adaptations, and changes have happened with the people there than the other "races"

[lordblazer]

@2eelShmeal

anyway we're all pretty closely related. And when it comes to adapting humans do it quite fast most of us adapt to a lot of different climates throughout our entire lives., and out genetic changes with us the entire duration of our lives.

[TheJamesrocket]

I will set the record straight for both of you.

@N00bcrunch3r Bipeds are not inherantly slower or faster than qaudrupeds, but they do use 50% less energy during movement. They are locamotively more efficient, thus excellant at travelling long distances (larger creatures also cover ground faster, see elephants). As it pertains to hunting, though, its not so much about stamina as it is about being able to outrun all other animals in the heat of the day. Humans are unique in that they sweat.

[TheJamesrocket]

All other animals must dissapate heat through panting, and they must slow do to a certain minimum speed to do so. A human can run them to death, if they are patient enough. Its called persistence hunting.

2eelShmeal 'I'm sure that early humans were predated upon a lot.'...That depends. If your only going back a couple million years or so, then no. Hominids like homo ergaster were some of the most dominant creatures to ever walk the earth. They were apex predators wherever they went, and did not

[TheJamesrocket]

experience any significant morphological changes for well over a million years. Only around 600,000 years or so ago did they evolve into homo heidelbergansis, the first creature ever to wield fire, to use achulean technology, and likely the first ever to become self aware. Mitiochondrial DNA tests suggest that they were the first hominids to incorporate large numbers of spindle neurons into their brain architecture. Thats extremely important.

[2eelShmeal]

@TheJamesrocket Thanks. Definitely an explosion of brain growth then. Most likely it was due to fire. It made meat easier to eat, which is rich in protein. Also, it started a new thing.. gathering around the fire to eat, a bonding process.

To this day, we consider "breaking bread" with someone an intimate type of thing. We don't just sit down and eat next to anyone when we have a choice.

[N00bcrunch3r]

@TheJamesrocket

1. Are humans the only animals that sweat?

2. But at that point, Homo ergaster and other early humans didn't had no fire and didn't have much more than sticks and stones at that point.

3. Didn't we have fire beginning about 1.5 million years ago?

[TheJamesrocket]

@N00bcrunch3r For question 1, no. Both hominids and horses produce large amounts of sweat.

As for your 2nd and 3rd questions, they contradict each other. Homo ergaster lived long before and long after the timeline you indicate, and there was no evidence of fire at that time. It only started regularly appearing in geographic tables about 450-400,000 years ago (around homo heidelbergansis time).

For tool usage, if you were implying that about hominids which pre-date ergaster, then yes.

[Osmodaful]

@N00bcrunch3r we are long distence runers. sprinting animals are fast but weak stamina but runers can run many miles without resting.

[TheUndertakerSaysRIP]

this is just a tip of the iceberg.... truth will always change with time...

[2rainmalt]

this topic of apes is as boring as the topic of creation. belive in nothing . apes came four foot animal, four foot animal came from crocodiles . crocodiles cames from toads, the toads came from blabla water and is why we are made of 70-% of water. yeah thats explains it!

[MrKeepless]

try to refute this!!!

[JabberCT]

Awesome show.

[mikieginokc1]

If one does not understand how the human brain works, one may have trouble explaining how it became what it became. Important clues are teeth, ears, face, & foramen magnum placement, & what we know about mammalian communication in general. Still, so glad this was posted, it makes me think!

[mikieginokc1]

Suite of adaptions. How or under what conditions were leading to the changing brain? Tool making means they were thinking about things enough to project how to change the future with a tool.

[mikieginokc1]

Legs do not lead the brain, everything a species has outside of the brain is a TOOL of the brain. Still watching, just wanted to write that down!

[StygianBeach]

Thanks for the upload... looks interesting..18.15. Okay that is annoying. Bipedalism is much more efficient, but this is not answer to why people started walking. It it why people continued to walk.

[StygianBeach]

@StygianBeach Okay, he thinks the why was food carrying. I agree.

[ObsidianStray]

I had to stop watching this when during the intro it claimed that humans aren't apes.

[MrShannonite]

@ObsidianStray I think that's my gripe as well. They're trying far too hard to distance us from apes when we still are apes.

[DemonNaruto17]

This is so awesome...

[Atheeizm]

Wonderful. Thank you.

[flexbrat]

extract the dna and clone clone clone !!! lets see what we really have here !

[flexbrat]

still believe that there was alien intervention in our dna !

[MrWagman11]

How do young-earth creationists completely discount this science?

[Thinkdeep420]

Very informative. Thanks for the upload.

[Thinkdeep420]

SCIENCE RULES!!!!

[Thinkdeep420]

@ Monkeypeopleofearth I couldn't agree more.

[monkeypeopleofearth]

it is embarrassing that 47% of Americans reject the concept of evolution. But these same people believe in talking snakes and talking donkeys because 2000 years ago, a group of primitive, desert-dwelling, bronze-age goat-herders were sitting in their tents, trying to figure out how the earth was created... and they got nothing right.

[ScreamingForClemency]

all those fossils were just put there by satan to test our faith.

j/k

[y0nd3r]

@ScreamingForClemency Following that line of reasoning, god would have to have been a mean, sneaky, tricky bastard.

[AscendingParadigm]

@monkeypeopleofearth couldn't've typed it better myself.

[jhallberg702]

@monkeypeopleofearth I am christian, yet do not reject evolution. I actually find the sheer improbability of such chains of events as the formation of life support to my personal belief. To follow to religion is not to reject science, I personally find myself fascinated by it. You do have a point in how some are too closed minded to accept what is in front of their faces, yet your statement was both general and insulting. Have some respect.

[2eelShmeal]

@jhallberg702 I was a Christian, now an atheist. I applaud your candor. I know how hard it is for you to have that position. You get flak from all sides. I also understand the conflicts that go in your mind. I went through them too.

Just hang in there, keep your honest attitude and eventually you come to some sort of finality in your brain. Keep searching, keep asking questions, don't let the nay-sayers get in your way. You get a lot of respect from me for your bravery, even though we disagree.

[2eelShmeal]

@monkeypeopleofearth I think that at LEAST half of that 47% actually agree with evolution but are afraid to admit it, understanding that it conflicts with their religion. When people say they accept evolution, automatically, the religious think you're an atheist.

It's a very unpopular position so I don't think people have the balls to admit what they REALLY think. That 47% is misleading IMO.

[N00bcrunch3r]

@monkeypeopleofearth

Well you gotta at least hand it to them, how else would bronze-age shepherds come up with another idea of how the earth was created? For the time they lived in, it was actually quite an innovative idea.

[mark12033]

@monkeypeopleofearth thats nothing. some people believe aliens messed with our genes and the only proff they have is that we can speak and have little which, if im not mistaken are both explained in this video.

[ajesusfreak1]

@monkeypeopleofearth Haha, I'm one of the 47%. Those "primitive goat-herders" actually spoke with God. And He talked back. Back then, the Bible wasn't written down, so God freely made known to them what He expected of them, and was a loving, and powerful God. That same God lives in each one of us who let His Holy Spirit enter our hearts, and He talks to us that way, too. But mainly we study the Bible now.

[monkeypeopleofearth]

@ajesusfreak1 90% of the "hate groups" in the US are christian organizations. This list is compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I am an atheist, and I would have no problem with christinity if most of Christ's followers, actually practiced the teachings. Christians are... what Christians do and think.

[ajesusfreak1]

@monkeypeopleofearth You're right. We are DEFINITELY not perfect, not by a long shot. But we try (with God's help) to resist the world and it's evil temptations. Although I wouldn't say we're "haters". It's not like we get together in little clubs and think about which organization to demean. No, we're just trying to get by and are waiting for the Lord to come again.

[tekland666]

@ajesusfreak1 Can we please go back to the days when they threw christians to the lions or maybe those christian dirt bags could go in the rapture so the rest of us can fix the planet and have a little peace.

[TheBardicDruid]

@ajesusfreak1 That explains a lot, they listened to the voices in they're head.

[ajesusfreak1]

@TheBardicDruid We have those voices for a reason.....

[TheBardicDruid]

@ajesusfreak1 Yeah I know, it's called mental illness, better get some help.

[ajesusfreak1]

@TheBardicDruid Everyone has a conscience. That's what I'm talking about.

[TheBardicDruid]

@ajesusfreak1 Yeah right, you just realized that you admitted to people that you listen to the voices in your head, then had to come up with an excuse.

[ajesusfreak1]

@TheBardicDruid ??? So you're saying that you don't have a conscience?

[TheBardicDruid]

@ajesusfreak1 Sorry but a conscience and voices in your head are two different things, go ask a psychiatrist.

[ajesusfreak1]

@TheBardicDruid The voices in our head are just us thinking. It's not like it's random hallucinations. Your voice is talking to you as you read this in your head. A conscience guides you to make better decisions. Zing!

[shananagans5]

@monkeypeopleofearth monkeypeopleofearth.Very CREATIVE name. Create,get it lol. Ok, bad joke. I agree it's pretty sad 1/2 the people walking around believe in stories made up 2,000 yrs ago to explain things science has provided real answers to. Seems if it is under the name of religion delusions become socially acceptable. Religious types will commit someone to a mental hospital for believing the CIA is watching them then turn around & pray to the god they believe is watching. Now that's crazy

[ventura433]

I'll choose human knowledge over any god any time.

[FreeTibetChinaOUT]

@ventura433 Especially considering we made him up too.

[ventura433]

@FreeTibetChinaOUT Exactly

[JonO387]

Another great video. Please keep 'em coming.