|
|
|
For PayPal payments, use editor@frontiersman.my3website.net.
|
Neoanderthals
Sam Aurelius Milam III I don't have much confidence in the ability of scientists to arrive at correct conclusions. One of their most deplorable failures is their attitude toward a lack of evidence. That is, a scientist will absolutely refuse to consider the existence of something unless there's actual evidence of its existence. It's an idiotic attitude. A lack of any evidence is merely inconclusive. It doesn't prove or disprove anything. Consider that, because of the apparent lack of any fossils for the past 65 million years, scientists believed that Coelacanths were extinct. In fact, Coelacanths remain alive to this day. Sadly, too many scientific conclusions are based on false assumptions, preconceived notions, educational blinders,1 and excessive concerns for reputations and careers. Back in September, I took a little break and watched my recording of Clash of the Cavemen. I paid special attention to the speculations about the behavior of the Neanderthals and their adaptations to the slowly encroaching Cro Magnons. The scientists speculated that the Neanderthals were gradually driven into marginal habitat, their numbers were reduced, and they eventually became extinct. The scientists claimed that the process took about 5,000 years. If they're right (and such a thing must occasionally happen, if only by chance), then the interaction between the Neanderthals and the Cro Magnons lasted longer than the entire known, recorded history of the human race. A lot of things can happen in 5,000 years. If you've been paying attention to Life After People, then you'll understand that, after only a few hundred years, much of the evidence of even an advanced technology will disappear. After a few thousand years, little will remain beyond chunks of stone, fragments of bones, and bits of ceramics. The Cro Magnons were every bit as intelligent and inventive then as we are now. Presumably, the Neanderthals were similarly intelligent. Their brains were actually larger than those of the Cro Magnons. In 5,000 years, we've gone from stone arrowheads to spacecraft. Why wouldn't they do the same kind of thing in the same span of time? Why would any scientist conclude that the lack of any remaining evidence, after 30,000-years, proves the lack of any such activity by the Neanderthals and the Cro Magnons? The Neanderthals and the Cro Magnons had plenty of time to develop technologies similar to ours. There has been plenty of time, since then, for all evidence of such technologies to vanish. To conclude that nothing more than a lack of evidence proves the lack of any such past technologies is about what I've come to expect from scientists. Sometimes, I wonder if the scientists can think at all. They actually wonder if the Neanderthals could talk. It's been only 30,000 years. In terms of human society, that's a long time. In terms of human evolution, it's the blink of an eye. The Cro Magnons reportedly had the same kind of tongues, teeth, palates, throats, and larynxes as we do. The Neanderthals were similarly equipped, with only minor variations. Their FOXP2 gene was reportedly identical to ours today. Why would such organs, structures, and genes arise except through a previous and long evolutionary process of being used? Of course the Neanderthals could talk. They could probably sing. The two groups of people lived together on the European continent for 5,000 years. Did they interbreed? You can be sure that at least they tried. Whether or not they produced viable and fertile children can be debated. My opinion is that they did and that the Neanderthals didn't become extinct. Instead, they merged into the Cro Magnon population. Here's another possibility. The scientists claim that the Neanderthals were reduced in number and driven into marginal habitat. If so, then they would have been driven ahead of the Cro Magnons, wherever the Cro Magnons went, all around the world. They would have learned to stay out of sight. In that case, their extinction becomes a matter of speculation. The lack of a fossil since 25,000 or so years ago doesn't prove the extinction of the Neanderthals. Maybe they're not extinct but merely furtive. Maybe we still get glimpses of them in various places around the world. It's as good an explanation as any for Bigfoot, Yeti, Yeren, and Mono Grande.2 It's more credible than the scientists' thoughtless denials of the existence of either Bigfoot or the Neanderthals. Maybe we're not alone.
For PayPal payments, use editor@frontiersman.my3website.net.
|
Acknowledgments My thanks to the following: SantaClara Bob; Lady Jan the Voluptuous; my mother; Dewey and Betty; and Eric, of Ione, California. editor
Court Quotes From Humor in the Court and More Humor in the Court, by Mary Louise Gilman, editor of the National Shorthand Reporter. Forwarded by Don G.
Observations Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by David, of Idaho Falls, Idaho
Funny Questions and Answers Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by David, of Idaho Falls, Idaho
Funny Statements Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by David, of Idaho Falls, Idaho
Frontiersman Subscriptions and Back Issues Printed copies of this newsletter, either subscriptions or back issues, are available by application only. Cancellations If you don't want to keep receiving this newsletter, then return it unopened. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. Reprint Policy Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must go to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions I solicit letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. Payment This newsletter isn't for sale. If you want to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders, please inquire. For PayPal payments, use editor@frontiersman.my3website.net. The continued existence of the newsletter will depend, in part, on such contributions. I don't accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it. In case anybody's curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
For PayPal payments, use editor@frontiersman.my3website.net.
|
|
|