Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Down With The Cro-Magnon Collective!

So, Bill linked to this article, in which a boffin is explaining the discovery that genes linked to advanced intelligence, things like advanced mathematics and the like, originated with Neanderthal Man, and "modern humans" didn't pick them up until inter-breeding with their heretofore-assumed-to-be-less developed predecessors.  What Cro-Magnon man brought to the party was social skills.

I will say that the writer, despite working for Nature magazine and presumably having some grasp of science and the scientific principle, is honest and straight-forward about being unable, or unwilling, to face the implications.  "I don't know how you'll survive when our genes are gone."

Maybe now all those people whingeing about being introverts will start bragging instead. 

I'm gonna get me a new t-shirt.  On the front it will say "Neanderthal and proud!"

On the back it'll say "Don't crowd me, Cro-Mag!"

UPDATE:  For those who never read the comments, I should point out that this turns out to have been a piece of fiction. It reads like one, but I ass-you-me'd that Nature magazine wouldn't publish fiction, at least, not on purpose...


3 comments:

' said...

Shut up and take my money!

eriko said...

The 'Futures' column is alas a monthly fiction column.

Drang said...

Well, crap.

Honestly, I read that and thought "Nature doesn't publish fiction...", because it read like fiction.

Phooey.