Why There was no first human

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infomercial/opinion

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/ ... rst-human/

Very interesting. Though I have to take exception with the claim that Homo Erectus wasn't human. There is some evidence that remaining members of that species may have interbred with later Homo Sapiens, implying they were more than human enough.

It is all just shared DNA. Dogs and cats both share DNA with elephants some 50 million years ago. I think I share DNA with T Rex

Doubtlessly true.

Adam and Eve is just a myth to explain why snakes go on their belly, the difficulty of work and childbirth and why people aren't immortal. There are several older Mesopotamian myths that repeat the theme in magical gardens and courts with magical fruit or food. Gilgamesh even has a snake steal the magical food from him thus explaining why snakes are immortal. Which ancient people believed due to the shedding of the skin. The story of Adapa, who is tricked into not eating the magical food of life, has a similar theme.

It comes down to what you call human.

In general communication when people talk about humans they mean modern humans, not early humans. But all species in the Homo genus are human, so Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Neandertals are all human, just early humans. I wonder if we would grant them human rights if any of them were alive today (knowing modern humans, probably not).

That would be the new civil rights movement!