Debunking Shits About Evolution - Episode 9 [Homo sapiens subspecies]

So many changes have been occurring in our lives here and there, but these have been proven to have their roots in an evolutionary trend that was initiated millions of years ago by our ancestors. With the evolution of the modern humans into the future humans species; Homo sapiens futuris; many changes are still expected - like the elongation and thinning out of the fingers, and also some weird-looking eye colour and structure. Oops! I didn't just use the "weird" word again - but I'm really imagining how we would look like in the future. But not to worry, this thing is not happening anytime soon, but the process has already been initiated.

You can get the full detail here.

INTRODUCTION

Stating the obvious; there is no observable fact or theoretical framework that states that the earth only supports the existence of one single species (or subspecies) per time. So why do we always believe that the present day humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) has been the sole survival of the extinction of the other hominin species? What actually differentiates us as humans from the other hominin species that have gone into oblivion? Come to think of this; is our evolutionary tree a straight-up graph, in which a species absolutely evolves into a single specie, and the subsequent species evolves into another single species, and the trend continues without recourse to side branches? Is this a case of "evolve-into-the-next-specie-or-die-out" scenario? We will observe all these in this episode. Length Alert: Just grab a popcorn and flow along with this long epistle, lol. Welcome again to another myth-busting episode of evolution.

WAS THERE EVEN A CO-EXISTENCE?

We would take a little journey back through some few thousand years. One of the direct parents of the Homo sapiens was the Homo heidelbergensis, and this evolutionary break-up was initiated about 250,000 years ago. Observably, the Homo sapiens then evolved into the later subspecies; which is the Homo sapiens sapiens (us; the modern humans). But from fossil analysis of some ancient non-human hominid species that were excavated, and after carbon-dating, it was discovered that some of them dated to the same period as the first humans. What does this tell you? Obviously, more than one species of the hominin species existed per time. To buttress this point; I'm sure you have heard of the Neanderthals, which some have been saying were our direct ancestor. But here's a little shocker; the analysis of the Neanderthal fossils indicated that they lived around the same period as our earliest subspecies - in other words, the Modern humans and the Neanderthals; at some point in evolutionary history; lived together. If we ever co-existed, then there is no practicality that they ever evolved into us.

On further analysis, it was observed that we shared some unique similarities with the Neanderthals, and that could be inferred to mean that we actually came from the same direct parent. That was why the Neanderthals were termed "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis"; indicating that they were subspecies of the thinking man; the Homo sapiens. But this is not the only major subspecies of the homo sapiens. The Denisovans (Homo sapiens denisovan) is also a major subspecies; though rarely mentioned in this era. And awesomely enough, from fossil analysis, all these aforementioned subspecies co-existed with the modern man at some point before they went awol. Or what if they didn't actually die off?

_{Can you see the resemblance between you and neanderthals?. CC0 Licensed}

A recent study indicated that a possibility of interbreeding occurred between the subspecies of Homo sapiens and humans alike _[ref]... ewww! This is just like mating with your cousin. But observably; and to shock the people who think that the Neanderthals have all died out; some population of the human race alive today have been found to have the Neanderthal genome in them. And not only that, some have been proven to have the Denisovan genome too. That means; these subspecies didn't all die out, some may have been absorbed into the human community. What if you are actually a Neanderthal that got absorbed into the human species? Yes you! Okay, what if there was a crossbreed between your forefathers and the Neanderthals? Or what if you're a surviving Neanderthal or Denisovan? Now that's sounding weird right? Just hang on.

Studies from evolutionary biologists and genetists have proven that African continent has a more genetic diversity than other parts of the world when combined together. This has gone to prove that the birthplace of the evolution of the hominid species can be traced back to the African continent. And this has been confirmed by paleoanthroplogy and fossil analysis. Some of the significant fossils found in Africa include; but not limited to; Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis, Paranthropus boisei, Zinjanthropus, Kenyapithecus, Ardipithecus kadabba, Australopithecus anamensis, Sahelanthropus, Orrorin et al.

With all these species and subspecies existing in Africa, how do we think that each one would exist and evolve solely into a single species? Assuming that there are no side-arms, it normally takes about 1million years for a single specie to evolve noticeably into the next specie. And one of our earliest ancestors; the Sahelanthropus tchadensis lived abut 7million years ago _[ref]. So if it is a stright-up graph from the Sahelanthropus down to us; we would only have about 7 transitional species in-between to us (at an average of 1million years for a single specie to fully evolve). But you know that we have tens (if not hundreds) of recognized transitional fossils from the Sahelanthropus down to us. That means; there must have been some co-existence at some point in our evolutionary tree.

THE FUTURE FROM THE PAST

In my last two episodes, we considered how and what the future human species (Homo sapiens futuris) might evolve into; judging by the trend of evolutionary parameters - loss of pinky toes, more variations in eye colour, fewer dentition, longer and thinner fingers and all whatnot. But the important factor we should consider is this; would the present human species evolve into a single future specie? Okay, judging by the past records that we have considered, almost all our past ancestors have a co-existence with other hominins at some point in history, so why do we think that this would be any different? History does repeat itself right? Now we have taken care of whether or not the present humans would evolve into a single specie, now we need to consider how different the future specie would be from each other.

When the Neanderthals co-existed with the humans, there was a close resemblance with both, and that could explain why they didn't have much difficulty mating together. But you need to know this; as species evolve, the distinction between them becomes more pronounced, and the divergence becomes broader. Here's what I mean: Assuming the pure breed of Homo sapiens sapiens is represented with "X", and we represent a protégée of human+neanderthals as "Y", then we represent a human+denisovan crossbreed as "Z". A crossbreeding between Y and Z would further suppress the human genome in the subsequent generation, and crossbreeding them with the future generations of humans, you would notice that there would be obvious differences in the future subspecies of humans. That means; we are going to have diversity of the subspecies of the future humans. Are you scared?

_{Image From Pixabay. CC0 Licensed}

Well, here's where the scare lies: This era has been greeted with insane and unbelievable technological advances, which has given humans the ability to dictate; to some extent; the outcome of the process of evolution (or "manipulation", if I should call it that). Imagine with a technology like genetic engineering or hybridoma technology, we could tweak the human species down to the gene level, and would virtually be able to create the kind of humans we would desire to have. And this genetic engineering has taken another level; tweakings can now be made right inside the embryo before they are even born _[ref].

Now some people have been saying that cybernetics would greatly influence the process of evolution; yes! agreed, but what about genetics? We could be up against a future in which some population would be enhanced biologically, while some would be enhanced cybernetically (cyborgs), and of course, the un-augmented organic future humans (if they would be able to keep up with the dictates of evolution). But by inference, we should not expect the Homo sapiens futuris to be just a single specie. But with multi-speciation, there is also bound to be struggle for survival, and that is exactly where the Darwinian model of "Survival of the fittest" would come into play. And with the disruption of the Mother Earth by technological advances, how would the absolutely un-augmented organic humans hope to adapt in that kind of world? The truth is; the "Survival of the fittest" would not necessarily be in apposition with "natural selection", but "Induced selection", and this would be majorly induced by the force of technology.

The evolutionary process that was majorly a natural process has now suffered mutilations, and will yet see more. It now looks like technology has taken the wheels here. Well, technology has always been part of evolution - even right from the era of the crude stone tools. No wonder the rate of evolution has been increasing with the advent of technology _[ref]. We all should just brace up for what is coming. But like I said before, the future humans; Homo sapiens futuris; would not arrive automatically, but the process to their evolution has already begun.

FINAL WORDS

Humans have been thinking that we are the only surviving species of the hominins, but we have seen that some of these species we thought were extinct were only absorbed into the humans species, and this goes to prove why some people alive today have the Neanderthal and Denisovan genome. Who knows, you could be a Neanderthals, but I didn't say that though. But in any case, let's keep evolving

Thanks for reading evolving