How We Came to Be Human
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I believe we evolved from a lower form of ourselves. Not necessarily apes but a hominid. The hominid over millions of years developed and adapted to their environment. They began to migrate and experience new things such as environmental changes and different animal species. Throughout the millions of years of evolution the hominid had to adapt and overcome to survive. The need to survive developed the brain into a more sophisticated tool.
The hominid migrated just as many animals now do. They had to think about where to move to survive and hunt. These survival skills slowly developed into learning skills that moved hominid to the next level. They branched off into tribes and supported the tribe through hunting and gathering. They then developed behaviors such as problem solving which could have been the start of providing shelter and shelter not just from the elements but from invading tribes. This defense mechanism could have been the start of self-reflective intelligence.
The development of self-reflective intelligence is when hominid developed into homo sapien. Homo sapien then developed rituals for burial and celebrations. This in turn developed hierarchy and class structure. The strong were on charge and the weeks were outcasts. The weeks were the lower class as the strong were the upper-class of the times. To keep their place in the tribe the upper class would develop structure and rules. Some of these rules were meant to keep the lower class below them and stop any possible ideas of revolt. Millions of years later as the homo sapien mind developed then so did the idea of religion.
I believe our place on earth is that of just another species buying time on this earth. We will eventually become extinct and something else will evolve in our place. But until then we will continue on as usual. Some will be represented by the religious groups and others by the evolutionist side. We will continue to self reflect about our place in the universe and as we develop our intelligence further then maybe we will find the truth out there somewhere.
Tattersall, I. (2006, Jun2006 Special Edition). How we came to be HUMAN. Scientific American Special Edition, 16(2), 66-73.
Rennie, J. (2002, July). 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense. Scientific American, 287(1), 78.