The history of human origins is the subject of scientific research by many thinkers. This question does not leave a person alone from the moment the ability to think and be guided by the intellect, and not follow instincts, appeared. Since ancient times, there have been various attempts to build a holistic theory that would be able to explain the origin of homo sapiens.
Outcasts of the animal world
The first representatives of modern man appeared on our planet in an era when terrible giants and colossus inhabited the Earth. Small and weak primates became the working material for the emergence of the future Homo sapiens. The living conditions of that historical period required significant transformations in the behavior of various species, because the planet's climate changed several times, which led to the destruction of entire species of creatures that were not able to adapt to new living conditions.
The hominids had a rather difficult time surviving in the prehistoric world, because they were surrounded by a hostile environment that did not forgive mistakes, and given the changing climate, the existence of distant ancestors seems terrible. The lack of enormous physical strength, fangs, claws, thick skin turned our ancestors into a tasty morsel of the food chain for most predators. What could these unfortunate creatures do? That's right, only one thing, to leave densely populated forests and steppes, move to desert mountain plateaus, go far into the deserts or climb high into the mountains. In such a scenario, the fleeing hominids themselves began to experience a lack of food, which led to the fact that they had to use in their diet almost everything that came their way: plant roots, fruits from trees, insects, reptiles.
Of course, various predators, driven by instincts, began to pursue the departing prey, some, however, abandoned this venture due to changes in the usual habitat, but there were also those who were able to continue the pursuit of the human ancestor in a new climate. And here the hominids just showed the first rudiments of intelligence, because they had to unite in flocks in order to resist the attacks of predators, collective living required the development of methods of transferring information between representatives of the species. Thus, natural necessity launched the processes of intellectual improvement, because for survival there was no longer enough simple cries that could alert of danger or attract attention, more complex communication forms were required, which became the starting point in human evolution.
It is difficult to imagine, but the species doomed to extermination found ways of existence that ensured its survival in difficult historical realities. In the process of crossing representatives of various subspecies of hominids, new species began to appear: Australopithecus, Kenyapithecus, Gigantopithecus and others. In the process of natural selection, as the old man Darwin liked to say, there was only one species left that could most effectively adapt to changes in the surrounding world, withstand attacks by predators, and effectively exchange useful information. Homo sapiens or Homo Sapiens became this species.
Of course, one can be satisfied with vague explanations of various scientists about the randomness of natural processes that led to the emergence of modern man, but feeling like an accident in this world is not particularly joyful. However, if you go a little further and start asking the right questions to scientists, it turns out that there is no evidence of the possibility of the evolution of a hominid into a person, or they are simply unknown to modern science!
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Contemporary issues
At the moment, researchers around the world in the field of paleoanthropology are making every effort to find the missing link in evolution and link together modern man and his supposed ancestors. There have already been precedents in world history when it seemed that the missing piece in our history had been found, but then followed by severe disappointment, as in the story of the "Piltdown Man." Such hoaxes bring irreparable harm to science, slowing down its development and directing it on the wrong track.
In the scientific community, more and more scientists adhere to the theory that it is enough to look for a black cat in a dark room, you need to look at the problem differently.
Achievements in genetics today will make it possible to find an unambiguous answer to an exciting question for all of humanity for a long time. The message in the newspaper "Science News" published in 1983 became a real sensation in the scientific community, according to the research of geneticists from Berkeley, it follows that all people on the planet have a common female ancestor who lived about 350 thousand years ago. The data obtained as a result of research cannot be a mistake, because scientists have studied DNA mitochondria, consisting of 35 genes and inherited from mother to offspring without the influence of the father's genetic material.
The result of the research was confirmation of the hypothesis according to which it turns out that in ancient times, for inexplicable reasons, a female with mutated DNA appeared in the hominid environment, which was able to reproduce offspring all year round, and not like the representatives of the animal world in certain cycles two or three times a year … From that moment on, the humanization of man accelerated a hundredfold. Undoubtedly, this discovery is important in science, but the question of the causes of such a mutation has remained open.
Various theories
Some speculate that humans are the result of natural mutations that, by sheer coincidence, have led to this very result. However, the question arises why the mutation process has stopped at this point? Why is the development of new species of animals not taking place now or the already existing representatives of the animal world are not being improved? There is no answer to this question.
Other people suggest that a certain higher power, which can be designated as God, was the primary cause of the emergence of all living things, including Homo sapiens. The Greek theologian Christas Yanaras made an attempt to combine the achievements of modern science and religious worldview, declaring that God used an anthropomorphic creature to create man. At the same time, referring to a text from the Bible, which speaks of a certain "red clay", as the primary material for the creation of man.
Of course, there are those who are sure that all of humanity is the product of experiments, more perfect and advanced cosmic races, who conducted experiments on our planet, and then left it, leaving their experimental results to exist independently, but the experience did not end and the Earth is under the supervision of alien scientists.
An interesting theory arose in Russian science, animal biologist Alexander Belov expressed the opinion that one should not look for a human ancestor among hominids. In his opinion, the ancestor of man may be an unknown creature to modern science. Proving his theory, he points to a huge gap between primate and human DNA, pointing out that rodents and pigs share significantly more genes with humans. In addition, he points out that the foot of a bear has more in common with the foot of a person, the limb of the latter is from the foot of a monkey, which, in his opinion, should expand research and include other creatures in the circle of the alleged progenitors.