Researchers in Barcelona, Spain, say they have uncovered a relatively complete fossil of one of the earliest great apes, the category that includes human beings. A report published today in the journal Science describes the new species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicas, which lived between 12.5 million and 13 million years ago.
Apes diverged from monkeys near the beginning of the Miocene epoch about 25 million years ago.
As long ago as
19 million years ago, the great apes then parted ways with the lesser apes, a group that includes modern gibbons. Dozens of species of great apes lived during the Miocene, but only humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans remain.
The fossil includes parts of a skull that has a rather vertical face as well as other bones that show features characteristic of great apes. For example, the highly curved rib bones indicate that Pierolapithecus had a broad flat chest and its shoulder blades were on its back rather than on the sides of its chest, as in monkeys. These features, together with a flexible wrist joint, are thought to help in swinging from branches. Although the specimen has short fingers similar to those of monkeys, its discoverer, Salvador Moy-Sol of the M. Crusafont Institute of Paleontology, and his colleagues propose that long fingers like those of great apes may have evolved later. Like modern great apes, Pierolapithecus's lower back was short and stiff, which is suggestive of an upright posture.
The remains date from about the time when the Asian great apes, represented today by orangutans, diverged from the African branch of great apes that later produced gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. The authors suggest that their specimen is close to the common ancestor of both branches.
David Begun of the University of Toronto, a paleoanthropologist not affiliated with the new find, suspects that Pierolapithecus may actually be partway along the African branch. But he emphasizes that because this fossil came from a time so close to the divergence, the differences between the branches would be slight. Says Begun: "Either way, we still get a glimpse, through Pierolapithecus, of what the common ancestor of all great apes looked like, even if it's actually a little way along one of those two major pathways."
Along with energy policy, political and economic systems must also evolve.
Our civilization is fast approaching a tipping point. Humans will need to make the transition from nonrenewable fossil fuels as the primary source of our energy to renewable energy sources that will allow us to flourish into the future.
Failure to make that transformation will doom us to the endless political machinations and economic conflicts that have plagued civilization for the last half-millennium.
We need new technologies to be sure, but without evolved political and economic systems, we cannot become what we must. And what is that? A Type 1 civilization. Let me explain.
In a 1964 article on searching for extraterrestrial civilizations, the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev suggested using radio telescopes to detect energy signals from other solar systems in which there might be
civilizations of three levels of advancement: Type 1 can harness all of the energy of its home planet; Type 2 can harvest all of the power of its sun; and Type 3 can master the energy from its entire galaxy.
Based on our energy efficiency at the time, in 1973 the astronomer Carl Sagan estimated that Earth represented a Type 0.7 civilization on a Type 0 to Type 1 scale. (More current assessments put us at 0.72.) As the Kardashevian scale is logarithmic -- where any increase in power consumption requires a huge leap in power production -- we have a ways before 1.0.
Fossil fuels won't get us there. Renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal are a good start, and coupled to nuclear power could eventually get us to Type 1.
Yet the hurdles are not solely -- or even primarily -- technological ones. We have a proven track record of achieving remarkable scientific solutions to survival problems -- as long as there is the political will and economic opportunities that allow the solutions to flourish. In other words, we need a Type 1 polity and economy, along with the technology, in order to become a Type 1 civilization.
We are close. If we use the Kardashevian scale to plot humankind's progress, it shows how far we've come in the long history of our species from Type 0, and it leads us to see what a Type 1 civilization might be like:
Type 0.1: Fluid groups of hominids living in Africa. Technology consists of primitive stone tools. Intra-group conflicts are resolved through dominance hierarchy, and between-group violence is common.
Type 0.2: Bands of roaming hunter-gatherers that form kinship groups, with a mostly horizontal political system and egalitarian economy.
Type 0.3: Tribes of individuals linked through kinship but with a more settled and agrarian lifestyle. The beginnings of a political hierarchy and a primitive economic division of labor.
Type 0.4: Chiefdoms consisting of a coalition of tribes into a single hierarchical political unit with a dominant leader at the top, and with the beginnings of significant economic inequalities and a division of labor in which lower-class members produce food and other products consumed by non-producing upper-class members.
Type 0.5: The state as a political coalition with jurisdiction over a well-defined geographical territory and its corresponding inhabitants, with a mercantile economy that seeks a favorable balance of trade in a win-lose game against other states.
Type 0.6: Empires extend their control over peoples who are not culturally, ethnically or geographically within their normal jurisdiction, with a goal of economic dominance over rival empires.
Type 0.7: Democracies that divide power over several institutions, which are run by elected officials voted for by some citizens. The beginnings of a market economy.
Type 0.8: Liberal democracies that give the vote to all citizens. Markets that begin to embrace a nonzero, win-win economic game through free trade with other states.
Type 0.9: Democratic capitalism, the blending of liberal democracy and free markets, now spreading across the globe through democratic movements in developing nations and broad trading blocs such as the European Union.
Type 1.0: Globalism that includes worldwide wireless Internet access, with all knowledge digitized and available to everyone. A completely global economy with free markets in which anyone can trade with anyone else without interference from states or governments. A planet where all states are democracies in which everyone has the franchise.
The forces at work that could prevent us from making the great leap forward to a Type 1 civilization are primarily political and economic.
The resistance by nondemocratic states to turning power over to the people is considerable, especially in theocracies whose leaders would prefer we all revert to Type 0.4 chiefdoms.
The opposition toward a global economy is substantial, even in the industrialized West, where economic tribalism still dominates the thinking of most politicians, intellectuals and citizens.
For thousands of years, we have existed in a zero-sum tribal world in which a gain for one tribe, state or nation meant a loss for another tribe, state or nation -- and our political and economic systems have been designed for use in that win-lose world. But we have the opportunity to live in a win-win world and become a Type 1 civilization by spreading liberal democracy and free trade, in which the scientific and technological benefits will flourish. I am optimistic because in the evolutionist's deep time and the historian's long view, the trend lines toward achieving Type 1 status tick inexorably upward.
That is change we can believe in.
Michael Shermer is an adjunct professor in the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University, the publisher of Skeptic magazine and a monthly columnist for Scientific American. His latest book is "The Mind of the Market."
(from Potholer54's youtube page:) WE NEED YOU! -- I am looking for people who can "seed" the Made Easy series, either hosting it on their websites, mailing DVDs to schools or to other 'seeds', or spreading through BitTorrents. If you can help spread a bit of science and counter the rolling tide of creationist ignorance, please get in touch. Message me with a description of what you can do. Thanks!
The 'Made Easy' series is designed to explain the evidence that shows how we got here, from the Big bang to human migration out of Africa. A better quality version will soon be available for free download from a website -- details to be announced. I will be happy to send DVDs free of charge to schools after the series is finished.
The 'Made Easy' series of videos can be freely copied and distributed for educational purposes, but cannot be used for commercial gain in whole or in part. They cannot be altered, transformed or added to. If you use repost these videos you must attribute them to 'Potholer54 on YouTube."
Name: Potholer
I've been a journalist for 20 years, 14 years as a science correspondent. My degree is in geology, but while working for a science magazine and several science programs I had to tackle a number of different fields, from quantum physics to microbiology. My particular talent was my ignorance. By not understanding half of what I was assigned to cover, I had to reduce scientific discoveries from the complex to the simple. If I wrote it in a way that I could understand it, then my readers could understand it.
1 -- History of the Universe Made Easy (Part 1) http://youtube.com/watch?v=wg1fs6vp9Ok Forget gods and goblins, here is the real story of how we know the extent of our universe in time and space. Throw away all those religious books and look at some hard evidence.
2 -- History of the Universe Made Easy (Part 2) http://youtube.com/watch?v=KMQk6MveZOE This concludes the two parts on the history of the universe, showing how our universe, solar system and planet Earth formed through natural and predictable processes.
3 -- The Origin of Life made easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozbFerzjkz4 This video answers two commonly held fundamentalist misconceptions: That scientists believe life popped out of nowhere, and that life cannot come from non-living chemicals. It explains the most commonly accepted hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth. As with all hypotheses, there are things we have yet to understand about the steps that took us from organic chemicals to replicating chemicals -- from non-life to life. If we had all the answers this wouldn't be a hypothesis, it would be a theory. So don't expect a Nobel prize for spotting problems, because solving problems is what research is all about. The video simply shows the various steps to forming primitive cells and challenges fundamentalists to show which one is impossible, and why.
4 -- The Story of the Earth Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=lN8XXaDrK4A Is the Earth really 6,500 years old? And was there a global flood 4,000 years ago? The only way to find out is to look at the clues from the past. This video explains the evidence geologists use that shows slow uplift, erosion and sedimentation over hundreds of millions of years. (This video replaces an earlier one which -- horror! -- had audio of Kent Hovind)
5 -- The Age of Our World Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=w5369-OobM4 Methods of dating easily explained, that clearly prove the age of the Earth and our universe. Part of the "Made Easy" series that explains science in clear and simple terms. A must for people who think the world is just 6,000 years old.
6 -- Natural Selection Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=R_RXX7pntr8 Explains natural selection in simple terms. A must for anyone who is confused by the Theory of Evolution, and wonders why it's taught in classrooms. This video is part of the 'Made Easy' series that explains the history of our world, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa.
7 -- The Theory of Evolution Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=7w57_P9DZJ4 Explains the Theory of Evolution in simple terms. A must for anyone who is confused by what the Theory is, what it means, and why it's taught in classrooms. This video is part of the 'Made Easy' series that explains the history of our world, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa.
8 -- Human Evolution Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=MCayG4IIOEQ The evidence for human evolution. Part of the "Made Easy" series which traces our origins from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa. This video can be copied and distributed fro educational purposes, but not for commercial use. It may not be built upon or transformed. You must attribute this work to "YouTube's Potholer54".
9 -- Human Ancestry Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=8edyoZFW-Lg Traces our migration out of Africa and explains, through DNA evidence, how humans colonized the world. Part of the Made Easy series of videos that show the evidence of our origins, from the Big Bang onwards.
10 - The Scientific Method Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=zcavPAFiG14 The 'Made Easy' series explains the evidence of our origins, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa. This video explains how we acquire this knowledge, and how ideas go from a hunch in a laboratory to accepted theories taught in school.
The video cuts at the end, and the final sentence should read: "In the next video, I'll look at whether belief can be regarded as science."
11 -- Creation 'Science' Made Easy http://youtube.com/watch?v=xO7IT81h200 Creation Science is fairly simple to understand. The conclusion is laid out for you -- just read Genesis -- so there's nothing to investigate. The question is whether this really is science. Even if it isn't, should it be taght in school as a way of 'opening' young minds?
This is the penultimate video in the 'Made Easy' series, which looks at the evidence showing our origins, from the Big Bang to the human migration out of Africa.
