“And Abraham said concerning Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah."
Genesis 20: 2
Actually, I don't like to rewrite articles taken from somewhere. Usually I do it differently. I select material from various articles and monographs, then work on it. But in this case, the work will be purely journalistic. That is, to retell someone else's text in your own words, close to its content. Cause? The reason is that the text and the ideas expressed in it are very interesting and up-to-date, and are closely related to the topic that aroused keen interest in VO: who are we and where are we from? Unfortunately, this topic arose spontaneously, therefore it began not from the beginning, but somewhere in the middle of what we call “our history”. And now, during the discussion of my material "… We are all from the same ship!" sounded (and quite rightly!) the voices of those who asked: how was it before, and what about the Finns, Chukchi, Indians and aborigines of Australia.
Yr was here! Stone Age autograph. People do not change…
In this regard, many became interested, and where did we come from at all: from the constellation of the Dragon or from Africa? And now the analysis of haplogroups precisely points to this continent as to the homeland of mankind. But how did we "come into being" - that is the question? How did they become naked, erect and … chatty? And did labor create a person, if … if human people are lazy by nature? It is clear that the theory that explains all this must meet certain requirements, right? First, rely on the achievements of modern science. Second, be consistent. Thirdly, allow testing by genetic methods and take into account the peculiarities of human psychology, by the way, has changed little over the millennia. As you can see, Darwin's theory is not very suitable for this set of requirements! And the most important thing: his main statement contradicts it: "labor created man from a monkey!" What work, when we work only out of necessity, and we would be so glad to do nothing at all! Yes, we work, and we work like horses, but again for the sake of lying on the sand somewhere under the palm trees and so that there is “all inclusive” around. There are probably exceptions, but I have never met them in 60 years!
And here I was just lucky. I read an interesting article on this topic in the magazine … "Popular Mechanics", where they have long been writing not only about mechanics, as well as in the magazine "Science and Technology", which is published in Ukraine and where a lot of interesting articles on history are published. And I am very glad that I can present here the presentation of this article with some additions from myself, not only as a historian, but also as a teacher of the specialty "public relations" - it turns out that there is a direct connection between PR and the genesis of humanity.
So, in ancient times, about 3 million years ago, in Africa, in Southeast Africa, a very favorable complex of natural conditions developed. Warm climate, flat terrain and many reservoirs in which delicious shellfish were found. And it was in this area that great apes were found, in front of which, like all primates, there was one problem. Protein hunger! Modern portable video cameras in wildlife have shown that chimpanzees kill birds, steal eggs from their nests and even kill small antelopes with sticks, so that later … to taste their meat. They need protein because they have no problem with carbohydrates.
Migration of the oldest haplogroups. The numbers on the right are the age in thousands of years.
Our ancestors were very lucky in this sense. Shellfish! Get in the water, catch and eat! But … you can't go far on all fours, and you can't catch much with your mouth. That is, the advantage in reproduction - and reproduction is the main goal of human life, like any other biological creature on earth - was gained by those who … got up on their hind legs faster than others! They went deeper, harvested more, ate more, which means they reproduced more often and passed on their genes (and skills!) To their descendants. So over time, people became upright and lost their hair in the same way. After all, if you get wet all the time in search of food, then you won't catch a cold for long. There were no hospitals then - caught a cold - fell ill and … died! I didn’t pass my genes! But those whose coat was not so thick got wet less, got sick less and reproduced more often and more efficiently!
At the same time, they worked a little. How? They smashed the shells of the caught mollusks with stones! Such primitive choppers were found in the named region, as well as the broken shells of mollusks and turtles. That is, yes, people worked, but, as now, they did it out of necessity. And for the most part they lay in the shade under the bushes and … multiplied, combining business with pleasure!
Yes, but how to persuade the female to reproduce in conditions of abundance of food? It is clear, as in hunger! But when there is a lot of food, you just need to go into the reservoir and climb there a little. To me my students (oh, these students!) Sometimes answer this question like this: show her … What to show is clear! But … it did not affect people in this era! Everyone was naked and happy. Of course, coercion was not ruled out. But … it was much easier to just … “persuade” the female! That is, to show her with signs and sounds that you are not averse to that she is “the woman of your dreams” and, most importantly, she will lie in the shade under the bush, and here he is - Yr, Hug, Uh, Ryg, Moog - will bring her delicious food! That is, the basis of most of the actions of people was laziness. It was lazy to look for food myself, well, let him bring it, and I'll give it to him! And that's how speech was born - from the sounds with which our great-great-great-ancestors lured each other to "spar". The most important thing should be noted: the very first spoken word (conventionally, of course, this must be understood!) Was … FALSE! Because the man, of course, promised the woman more than he could really do. He promised her many, many delicious food, shells and snails, but … he always did less than he promised! This is still the case today! That is, PR was born together with people!
This is how our ancestors became naked, erect and talkative! That is, PEOPLE!
And then another climate change happened! It became dry, the shellfish ponds dried up, and it was necessary to live in the savannah and somehow survive. People here too found a way out and broke up into tribes. And they also began to share food with each other and it was through this that they preserved their kind. However, here, too, they had a problem. George Orwell, in his famous novel 1984, wrote that since the Upper Paleolithic, people have been divided into three groups - smart, average and stupid. And again, this is really the way it is, and we all know very well.
And here is the question: in the difficult conditions in which our ancestors found themselves at that time, which of these groups had the most chance of survival? Average, of course! Yes, the average ones are "patient", they are all ready to endure, to overcome, but "to be like everyone else" is their ideal! The most stupid at that time was the hardest thing. He violated the unwritten laws of the tribe, got hit on the head with a club and … you were eaten! Therefore, their genes were passed on to descendants to the least extent. But with the smart ones there were problems, often there was nothing of them, but they did not want to "be like everyone else." And what were those people left to do? Drive out your restless kinsmen! There were many tribes. They expelled from one, from the second, from the third … The fugitives met, stole their women, multiplied, formed their own tribe, and they had the same problems. The foolish ate - the smart ones were expelled! This is how natural selection went not according to wool and long legs, but according to the mind! And people (and there were more and more of them!) Went further and further, and at the same time became smarter.
Distribution of the oldest haplogroups.
Gradually, they mastered the whole land. They invented an ax, a spear, a harpoon, a net, a raft, a boat, a sling, a bow, ceramics, learned how to use fire and paint caves. There is now a lot of food! They stopped killing the stupid (a stupid wife even became a value!), The smart ones became leaders and priests and … the biological progress of mankind, alas, stopped. The brain stopped growing and, moreover, mental abilities also began to decrease. For example, memory began to weaken. Why bother it - after all, there is Google. The logic became bad - why bother straining your brains again, when everything is in books and on the Web, and "you can ask Masha." So, mentally, humanity today is degrading and degrading for a long time, since the appearance of the first cities on the planet, that is, 10 -7 thousand years. But this is nothing according to the general historical scale, so there is no need to be particularly intimidated.
That is, in accordance with the "Pareto law", the trend, the vector of human development, has changed: if earlier there were 80% and 20% with a plus sign, now the same indicator with a minus sign. But thanks to the development of science, technology and modern media, these very 20% can do much more than the other 80, so the general degradation of mankind is not threatened!
