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Anthropology, Evolution and Science
Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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"Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul..."
Mark Twain
"Ideology is a poor substitute for rational thought..."
Afarensis
"It isn't faith that makes good science...it's curiosity"
Prof. Jacob Barnhardt, The Day the Earth Stood Still
"This man wishes to be accorded the same privilege as a sponge. He wishes to think!"
Clarence Darrow, Inherit the Wind
"...I become fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason..."
Klaatu, The Day the Earth Stood Still
"I want you to grab life by its little bunny ears and get in its face..."
The Simpsons
"This is between me and the vegetable..."
Seymour Krelborn, The Little Shop of Horrors
"There are bad laws and cruel laws and the people who enforce them are both bad and cruel..."
Thea, Isle of the Dead
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Jean- Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
"But the limit of tolerance for these human foibles is obtained when the proponent of a questionable scientific doctrine endeavors to maintain it against all possible odds by misrepresentation, misinformation and suppression of contradictory data, and by insinuating unfairness in opponents of his views."
Franz Weidenreich, Morphology of Solo Man
"Man stands alone in the universe, a unique product of a long, unconcious, impersonal material process with unique understanding and potentialities. These he owes to no one but himself, and it is to himself that he is responsible. He is not the creature of uncontrollable and undeterminable forces, but his own master. He can and must decide and manage his own destiny."
George Gaylord Simpson, Life of the Past
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Unknown
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
Frederich Nietzsche
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
The Declaration of Independence
Category: Book Review
There are a number of websites out there, such as this one from the Smithsonian, that discuss human evolution and the fossil evidence for human evolution. They vary in quality and completeness and you might be tempted to ignore yet...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 9:10 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Book Review
Awhile back Kambiz wrote a post about a recent paper by Mark Stoneking, during the course of which, Carleton Coon's book got mentioned. When first published The Origin of Races created considerable controversy and Coon was roundly vilified by a...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 1:01 PM • 10 Comments •
Category: Book Review
Once upon a time it used to be thought that "primitives" lead lives that were, to quote Hobbes, "...nasty, brutish, and short...", times change and so did the lifestyle of the "Other". Changed so much, in fact, that only European...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 10:12 PM • 11 Comments •
Category: Book Review
Recently, I received a copy of Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Shubin, you may recall, is one of the co-discoverers of Tiktaalik roseae....
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 11:21 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: Book Review
Veterinarians at zoos, aquariums, and conservation areas (to mention a few) face some unique challenges. Just how unique these challenges can be is the subject of The Rhino With The Glue-On Shoes And Other Surprising True Stories Of Zoo Vets...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 1:30 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Book Review
Like a number of others I received a copy of Journey to 10,000 BC to review. Since I missed it on its original run on the History Channel, I was actually looking forward to seeing it....
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 11:02 AM • •
Category: Book Review
Why is an anthropology blogger doing a book review on a book about Albert Einstein? The answer can be found in the book, and if I were mean I would tell you to figure it out on your own. Since...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 10:49 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Book Review
Washoe was justifiably famous for her use of sign language and everyone is familiar with her story. What may not be as widely known is that Washoe was only the tip of the iceberg. Once upon a time, raising chimps...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 10:10 AM • •
Category: Book Review
First, a video to whet your appetite....
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 11:20 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Book Review
When I first heard about this book I knew I would have to review it. The question of who owns the items archaeologists dig up has been the subject of a long, and frequently bitter, debate. Here in the United...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 10:23 PM • 8 Comments •
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
James Hrynyshyn 11.20.2009
Tim Lambert 11.18.2009
PZ Myers 11.14.2009
Tim Lambert 11.12.2009
