Part Two: Physics

Chapter Five: Creation

5.3 Talking Monkeys

“From long before the time of the ancient Greeks, human beings were generally recognized as members of the animal world. Much later, in the middle of the 19th century, Charles Darwin, in his brilliant book 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection' (1859), forced the world to face the fact that all the living creatures of the world had almost certainly descended from a common ancestor. He further developed that view in his work 'The Descent of Man' (1871), in which he specifically stated that humankind ultimately shared a common origin with the rest of animate nature (see Darwin, Charles).”^[1]

 For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors had few advantages over their fellow inhabitants of our great world.  Our numbers remained stable within a balance ecosystem.  We ate.  And we were eaten.  The proverbial rule of the jungle.  We had none of the superior gifts of environmental development, like great size, immense strength, or razor sharp teeth as did other creatures.  We were quite lame indeed.  Content to scramble for the trees at the first sign of trouble.  I do not intend to create a unrealistically dismal picture of our great ancestors, but lets face it; things were not too great for us as a species.  Is it possible that language is an inherent evolutionary trait?  Like teeth and muscle?  That given enough time language will inevitably arise?

The spiritual Assent of Man that we discussed in Part 1, relied on information provided by the Archeologists, Anthropologists, and other disciplines of inquiry.  We acknowledged how language was the turning point in the spiritualization of man.  So just when and how did this occur?  There is still controversy over the exact period in which we first became capable of speech as it sounds today.

In a very real way, the beginnings of Science occurred at the same time as his spiritual nature, and for the same reasons.  Language. 

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It does not require a great deal of anatomical knowledge to recognize our similarities to our simian cousins.  Looking at our fingers, our fingernails are vestiges of our connection to our evolutionary past.  Claws on a perfect creation such as man would be unnecessary.  That we are modified chimpanzees is not a big leap in comprehension of our own bodies let alone the evolutionary process.

Science has a pretty clearly defined sequence of events that, while more complex that the biblical account, culminated in our present day evolutionary status and is regarded as “truth” as best we can determine it:

I. The fossil record of prehistoric proto-humans and humans is still unclear and fragmentary.

Certain characteristics separate humans from other primates.

 

  1.Bipedalism; Two-legged or upright walking which occured due to modifications in the lower  spinal column, pelvis and legs.

  2.Brain Size; The modern human braincase has a volume between 1300 and 1500 cc. with a large Medulla which is more than three times the braincase of the earliest hominids.

  3.Body Size: Early hominids ranged from 3 ft and 70 lbs in females to 5 ft and 150 lbs in males.

  4.Opposable Thumb; a thumb which rotates and allows for gripping of tools, etc.

  5.Face and Teeth; The earliest hominids had large faces and teeth with protruding jaws positioned in front of the braincase (prognathism) and exposed canine teeth used for chewing.

 

II. The record of fossil man can be divided into four major classifications

 

  1.Australopithecus: The earliest known proto-human hominid that can be placed on the line toward humans; (A) Fossil record places them between 4,000,000 BC and 1,500,000 BC.; (B) Primarily found in eastern and southern Africa; (C) Australopithecus can be divided into four sub species (Afarensis, Africanus, Robustus, and boisei); (D) Some scientists believe Africanus was on the direct line toward development of humans; (E) L.S.B. Leakey, an English-Kenyan paleontologist discovered many Australopithecus remains in Olduvai Gorge in East Africa; (F) Most complete skeleton was that of "Lucy" found by Johanson in 1974; (G) Walked erect, used simple tools and was a hunter-gatherer.

  2.Homo Erectus; Proto-human hominid that appears to be the next step on the development of humans; (A) Fossil record places them between 1,600,000 BC and 125,000 BC; (B) Found in Eastern and Southern Africa as well extensively in China and Southeast Asia; (C) Two major subgroups of Homo Erectus discovered early include Pithecanthropous Erectus or, "Java Man", found by Eugene Dubois in present day Indonesia in late 19th century. Java Man is the first fossil remain to indicate use of rudimentary speech. Sinanthropous Erectus, or "Peking Man", found by Wallace Black in late 19th century near present day Peking China are the first fossil remains to indicate use of fire.

  3.Neandertal; Link to modern man is disputed with some thinking it was a branch which died out while others believe it was on the direct chain toward development of modern Homo Sapien; (A)Fossil record places them between 100,000 BC and 35,000 BC; (B) Found in Europe and Middle East; (C) First identified from fossils found in the Neander valley in present day Germany in the early 19th century; (D) Had a thick skull, heavy brow, large eye socket, low forehead and receding chin (the classic "cave-man"); (E) Used sophisticated tools and weapons; (E) Fossil remains indicate burial of dead thus suggesting a belief in religion.

  4.Cro-Magnon; 1st fully modern biological Homo Sapien; (A) Fossil remains places them between 40,000 BC and 9,000 BC; (B) Found throughout Europe, Africa and Asia; (C) Skilled tool-maker as indicated by spear-throwers and bow & Arrows; (D)Tended to settle in small villages with rudimentary agriculture; (E) Associated with cave paintings found throughout Europe especially Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain.

http://www.republic.k12.mo.us/highschool/teachers/tstephen/ancient/ph-3.htm

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 The ability to speak was a long time in the making.  The “heart” of speech is, of course, the vocal cords.  Not really cords but rather two flaps of muscle that open and close (very quickly when speaking or singing) across the opening of the windpipe.  This arrangement has been with air breathing creatures for about 300 million years and represents a natural valve to protect the lungs from anything entering except for air since the transition to land occurred over a long period of time.  But as often occurs, novel uses for this simple device soon followed.  As I mentioned earlier, the obvious guess would be that it’s initial alternative use was to utilize it’s ability to produce rapid waves (of sound) that could carry through this new medium (atmosphere) and would serve as an ideal warning system to one’s partner or offspring.

 The position of the vocal cords is of all importance in Man’s ability to create speech.  His “voice box” is located lower in the throat than other animals enabling greater freedom of movement for the tongue.  This at a fairly high price:  increased chances of choking to death.  God bless Momma Cass.   But apparently the survival advantages outweigh the number of deaths from choking so the gene was passed on.

(Also Refer to: Article in SCI Mag re: wernik's (?) area (speach) not gained attribute, rather former function of that area lost to host language skills.)

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From the application of science to the study of the brain and its components, it appears that the human brain is "hardwired", so to speak, with a need to communicate.  The obvious advantage in terms of survival advantage is the ability to communicate specifics of a dangerous or life threatening situation.  Having once adapted to the standard of Communicators, the question then becomes with what do we scratch this new itch to communicate with when there is no apparent danger of which to warn one another?  So that, over time, as the brain, with it's newly endowed communication facilities seated firmly in the (look up) (location specs for speech production and recognition) ,indulged in the idle time made available by the advent of an agrarian lifestyle,  communication begins to develop an increasing complexity.  Luxuriating in greater and greater degrees of abstraction, the developing intellect gives birth to the first inclinations toward religion (A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.) and philosophy (The critique and analysis of fundamental beliefs as they come to be conceptualized and formulated.).  Our ancestors probably discovered very early on that communicating untruthful information (story telling at it's best, lying at it's worst) was almost always problematic and counter productive.  So for the most part, communication between sophisticated individuals was kept to the exchange of facts or truths.  I can imagine an early post agricultural group displaying there communication skills like peacocks displaying their feathers; rather like many an egomaniac in today's academic society.  So now we can imagine our wise men of old, sitting around the campfire (if you will) exchanging truths.  So the question now becomes, what is truth?.  Logic and deductive reasoning come worming their way into the picture.  Religious theories were soon to follow.  Implications of creative forces which would soon become personified.*

*A resent study shows a strong connection between the development of speech and the use of our hands.  It showed that using hand gestures may play a role in memorization of names and events.  Blind people use hand gestures with each other and use the same ones that sighted people use.  An amusing thought comes to mind when you consider that our opposable thumb, and the agile ability of the hand it enables, is the result of  environmental pressure for our earliest ancestors to develop a life among the trees.  His hand was shaped by the branches of trees.  How appropriate that in Genesis, Moses recounts the legend of the Garden of Eden and contained therein a Tree of Life.  Indeed.  If he had only known just how close to the truth he really was!

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