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Wolfgang Korsus
Dipl.Ing. NT , Astrophysiker
Klingenberg 40
25451 Quickborn
TEL.: +49 4106 69295
Handy: +49 162 5680456
Website : wolfgang.korsus.net
I think the time has come to ask you eager readers a question: Are you aware of the extent of time, not to say excess, that I am talking about here? In most of the contributions, the periods of time can be described as truly cosmic. It can be equated with cosmic evolution, spanning billions of years; it took millions of years for our planet alone to come into being and still incredible billions of years for the phenomenon of life to appear. For many of you, this is certainly an incomprehensible space of time.
Around 150000 years ago, man became awake and active. He began to influence his environment, roughly 150,000 years ago. But were there possibly other species of the genus Homo? Evidence suggests, however, that Homo sapiens was only a relatively small group at that time, a so-called subgroup of primates. Simply put, a new species had emerged with this species of -……. Of man?
Question allowed: Was this creature already human? I say it can definitely be called a product of evolution. It can also be called a model, but it was not developed completely independently of all the others in its environment, but inherited most of its abilities from the previous models. Now I feel like I’m on a visit to an automobile factory. So that sounds a bit like the car industry, doesn’t it? I say yes, because it could go on like this. Your car has four wheels, four doors and so on, just like the previous models of its brand, but perhaps it has a new type of drive – electric, even? Back to man…….Attention this new man, Homo sapiens, walked upright, as his ancestors had often tried to do. He had his hands free, so he could use them much more often than his ancestors for things other than locomotion. In this way, I am addressing a special functionality at a very early stage, which I will come back to in a moment. After all, it was not least the hands of Homo sapiens, along with other special features, that contributed to its unprecedented success and thus made the other contemporary human models disappear into the dustbin of history.
With what speed did HOMO SAPIENS spread across the earth, or rather spread ? But first, where did the spread of Homo sapiens begin? Because it is the archaeological findings and the gene lines that prove it:
IT BEGAN IN AFRICA !
It began one of the first great migrations driven by horizons, as experienced by everyone! Initially, people were drawn to the Middle East (90,000 to 55,000 years ago) and further to South Asia, probably also to Australia around 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. As in Africa, they followed the course of the coasts. It was only later (30,000 to 10,000 years ago) that Central and East Asia, North and South America and Europe were colonized. Settled also means that people settled down.
It was only a few thousand years ago that modern humans shared their habitat with other species of the genus Homo. Certainly in Europe with the Neanderthals. An earlier widespread view that Homo sapiens developed separately from Homo erectus on several continents („multiregional origin of modern humans“) can now be regarded as refuted. Anyone who believes that Homo sapiens only colonized all „continents“ is wrong. He succeeded in a unique way in conquering almost all ecosystems on earth. Somehow a universal creature, it can survive in harsh, hostile conditions, in the eternal ice of the north, in the tropical rainforests around the equator, whether in the Sahara or the Australian outback, in the highlands of the Andes and the Himalayas or on the islands of the South Pacific. It’s hard to believe, but nevertheless true.
Allow me to say that this is, yes, a completely new quality of living beings. In fact, Homo sapiens emerged from the earth’s own evolutionary development, under the marginal and initial conditions on our planet earth and the dictates of natural laws.
This being somehow resembles a miracle; if you look at it in its finished or present form, some people will say: fantastic. Not me, because from generation to generation the „being“ becomes noticeably insignificant!!! Basically, however, its creation is simply logical. If we look back 10,000 years from today, we realize that all hominids other than Homo sapiens had already died out. There are various theories and fantasies about the reasons for this. Perhaps they killed each other, perhaps their birth rate was too low. Or did Homo sapiens kill off all the others? We do not know. But something fatal must have happened if only one of several different species remains in the end, right?
Very well, something very powerful happened in the history of the earth: There was an ICE AGE!!! When this last ice age began, Homo sapiens was just one species among many. But it was characterized by characteristics that made it the absolute number 1 in that time of intensified environmental conditions.
Again, one of the most powerful questions arises: What makes our Homo sapiens so special?
I would venture to say that this human species is probably somehow smarter than the other species of its kind. It seems that „he“ can obviously survive better under tougher external conditions. This ends in the question: Are the others too stupid, because it is clear that the others could not!
But why couldn’t they? …….. Possibly because they simply think of nothing else but………….eben, nothing. I think and say the following: can we know today if and what they thought back then? Did they even have a language? Perhaps a language of thought? Or did they even only practise a sensory language? The following example brings us closer to the matter……. imagine a hominid gets cold. How would it react? It retreats into a cave. That’s it. Now for the others, they are already sitting around the warming campfire. Homo erectus already knew how to use fire 1.7 million years ago, but it was humans who turned fire into a tool for everyday life.
He thought a little further ahead….. with the help of this tool, he could escape from his enemies in colder regions.
He preferred the cold, which is why he even left the warmer continent of Africa. This was only possible because he had mastered fire. With the help of fire, he was even able to prepare food, a practical pre-digestion. As a result, it fed itself much better than its contemporaries at the time and consequently its population increased. It is worth mentioning that even Neanderthals, with their larger brains, had no chance against the dexterity and intelligence of Homo sapiens ‼ ‼ ‼ ‼
If I look at the first human being in a completely neutral way, I come to the following conclusion →
The first human perfected his abilities more and more. Over every generation ……. Because this urge to make everything he touched better and better is also a major reason why Homo sapiens prevailed over Neanderthals. I’ll pass on an interesting piece of news that has been published – just as an aside: „Chimpanzees“ prefer to play with tools than „bonobos“! Extremely remarkable. But the reason probably lies almost naturally in their evolutionary history. Bonobos belong to a different species that has simply not developed such a pronounced curiosity as chimpanzees. If you now think that an animal is an animal, then that is too simple, just as wrong! I can already see that something very interesting must have happened at the beginning of the evolutionary line of hominids, the human-like species, because a certain disposition of curiosity was part of it. A little later, it was precisely this characteristic – in combination with the very special hand of Homo sapiens – that led to the generations of this evolutionary line being able to perfect things further and further.
Let me now turn my attention to the thumb. Two „fingers“ out of eight on both hands; but they have a hell of a lot of significance. For one thing, the human thumb is longer than that of primates, and for another, the saddle joint allows it to be moved in a way that makes it particularly easy to grasp things and hold on to them. A new gripping technique has simply emerged. Objects can be looked at very closely and grasped in the truest sense of the word. The thumb can virtually work together with other individual fingers and, even better, we can use all five fingers to manipulate things.
The extraordinary flexibility of our thumb and its interaction with the other fingers makes it possible to deform things to create tools. In this way, humans even enter into a dialog with nature: Aha, that’s what it looks like-that could perhaps be used for something! In this dialog with nature, early man gains experiences that are denied to all other hominids – „he learns“!
A new topic is due, or rather, suggests itself. „learning“……..My head comes into the picture. What do I always say then? ……CPU !!! I am sure that what we have „learned“ over the course of many generations will eventually be stored in our brains as know-how. At some point, it will simply be there „holter die polter“, i.e. very easily available. The second way is also possible, it is the evolutionary level, it may have passed on the experience within a group, …..via language. Every human being has a larynx on, let’s say, the throat, or in the throat. This enables them to modulate sounds in such a differentiated way that they can be used as an information medium for other members of the species.
Here is a brief summary, perhaps it will make things easier to understand:
The changes to the climatic situation that took place exerted enormous pressure on Homo sapiens to adapt, but not tragically, it led above all to an improvement in his abilities. He has a thumb, which enables him to develop tools and he even masters fire. An upright gait gives him the freedom to use his arms. The special agility of his hands and fingers allows him to have experiences that strongly influence the development of his brain. He even gradually leaves his native continent.
A steadily improving diet increases his reproduction rate. Now we come to the crux of the matter, this is where the fate of the entire planet is decided: more and more people are changing their ENVIRONMENT, more and more. But not yet as farmers, they will only become farmers much, much later. The time as hunters and gatherers begins and with it they influence their direct environment. What emerges……..The larger the group, the greater its success.
I’ll let out a little side note from me, just between us:
I’m sure something very specific has become ingrained in the human brain,……early readers, take a close look:
„GROWTH IS A POSITIVE THING“
Steady growth is not possible and for this reason it is an insane attitude
…. of many present and future people!
Surely that shocks you? Me too, you can believe me, but I had to get it out of my system or say it so clearly.
GROWTH IS EXTREMELY POSITIVE FOR US TODAY …… BUT THAT’S EVEN IF WE KNOW BETTER !!!
People whose CPU still works know that there can be no limitless growth, for physical reasons alone.
But what are the few functioning ones supposed to do? ……… unfortunately, the greed for growth is not only an evolutionary trait in us today, but has been since humans have existed.
Also mentioned: think about larger groups, yes, they provide more security for the individual. More group members and more prey usually let the hunter sleep more peacefully.
Security, there are some nowadays, quite a few, who carry their incomprehensible trust in God around with them. It’s like playing the spiritual lottery. I myself really enjoy the fact that I don’t have to worry about my survival every second. ( because I have sense )
Like back then? Strange. Question – And the safer the individuals in a group feel, the more leisure they have to give free rein to their curiosity. If you spend all your time worrying about where you’re going to get water, where you’re going to get food, you can’t have any new experiences, namely experiences that help people develop. I tend to say that curiosity is the luxury of the protective group. The need for security on the one hand, but the highly stimulating tension of curiosity on the other – that is the „unique selling point“ that characterizes Homo sapiens.
This will make it the most powerful creature on the planet, but to Homo sapiens‘ shame, it will even have the ability to change the climate of the entire globe. There is also another rather interesting development. This one relates to our teeth, which is almost unimaginable.
Again, I’ll try to explain it simply: I’ve already briefly mentioned that food is pre-digested through the use of fire. This led to a regression of the chewing muscles. It was no longer necessary for the eater to grind up the hard stuff that still made up the food of the other hominid groups. The decline in chewing muscles led to a shrinking of the entire jaw architecture, which in turn provided the brain with more space in the skull. – And this is naturally used for growth. Let me put it cautiously:
„In the beginning there was the phenomenon of learning“
There were also individuals who were more capable of learning than others, what happened?……naturally, they prevailed. However, they not only had cognitive abilities, but also developed social skills, which were immensely beneficial for the survival of a group as a whole. On the other hand, social behavior is in turn linked to a high level of linguistic ability. ….. and what we know today is that language ability is strongly linked back to the brain. In simple terms, the more I speak, the more I interact socially, the more active my „revered“ brain is. This is even easy to measure nowadays.
Is it actually known what happens to the muscle that you use intensively, e.g. often and strongly?
Correctly estimated, it gets stronger and grows in the process. I happen to be talking about the brain ‼
Put simply: you strengthen its function if you use it a lot
Very interesting results have already been obtained in brain research. It can actually be read in the brain that people are happier – in the form of a hormonal release – when they give something than when they take something. No comment, but it makes me very thoughtful.
I’m now going back to 70,000 years ago. I don’t want to hide the story of the supervolcano from you. I also apologize briefly because we are taking a step away from the uninterrupted continuation of the story. This interruption could be that it was a decisive moment in human history, and that is why you need to know about it. Let us turn to the genetic study of our equipment, for we have discovered that we are descended from seven mother lines. I can literally feel your surprised „Excuse me?“ Did there really only be seven mothers back then? Doesn’t that seem like too few? Because given the depth of time of several hundred thousand years, even anthropologists expected significantly more mother lines. Now, for those who are wondering how to find this out, the keyword to look up and read about is mitochondrial DNA, also known as RNA. Here is a short help text: Mitochondria are parts of our cells, they have their own genetic material that can only be traced back to the mother line. Based on its variations, we can therefore determine where we come from.
We are therefore talking about seven variations (variation; change, modification) that are only found in Ethiopia, whereas in Tierra del Fuego there are very few. This leads to the conclusion that America was „colonized last“ and that man must have originated in East Africa. The question: Why do we only have seven mother lines? Now I come back to a huge event that took place 72,000 years ago! It could be due to an event that had a so-called bottleneck effect on the development of mankind: it was the eruption of the „Toba supervolcano“. It exploded in Indonesia, causing considerable damage to the living world. The explosion must have been so powerful that the climate cooled to a terrible extent over many decades, leading to the extinction of significant parts of the fauna and flora. But listen carefully, today we have to assume that the „original tribe of mankind“ consisted of only a few thousand, I dare say perhaps even only a few hundred individuals. Almost unthinkable: This small group was the „responsible party“ of one of the most successful colonizations of planet Earth and its total appropriation. The best thing to say now is, what happens next? What happened next? What happens next in the period between 70,000 and 10,000 BC?
Man at this time was a true conqueror, he subdued the local nature more and more. By finding a 35,000-year-old cult object – it was called the Venus of Hohlefels. It leads us to believe that the people of that time even had an idea of another world, that’s how strange this little figure looked. Do we know whether these people living at that time could even imagine life in another place, not just here on earth? Perhaps where, in their experience, the origin of some of the forces of nature lay – in heaven? This forces me to ask, did these very early humans already have an idea of an All-God? What I have written raises the question for me: Where does the brain’s ability to possibly extrapolate or even enter the realm of simulation come from ? Is it possible to simulate reality?
Evolutionary theorists have very different ideas about this. You can certainly read what they have written on the subject, I will refrain from commenting. I will also refrain from the often detailed descriptions of the oldest figurative representations of the human body. That is not my world of thought.
Let me turn to another part of the human body. I am referring to the human hand, because it can not only hold and manipulate, it can even throw, and this ability naturally led it to greater hunting success. In the early days only with the help of stones, but later a spear was added. From this I conclude that the better the weapon’s ability to fly, the longer the hunter lives, as he can stay at a safe distance from the prey. That was not all, but something else was added that challenged the thinking ability of Homo sapiens in a new way. Please imagine
Imagine you want to hunt an antelope. You know this animal is very fast. By the time you have just thrown your spear, the prey has usually run quite a distance. Your spear will not hit the animal. So the only thing that helps is to imagine where the animal will be in the foreseeable future, and that’s exactly where you throw the spear.
It is certainly noticeable that the chances of hitting an antelope increase the better you can anticipate its location. A new example that could certainly be even better: You are standing by the river and see a fish. Right now, stick your spear in there.
And, I’m curious, have you got it? I have to smile and know: probably not, because due to the refraction of the water, the fish only appears to be where you are aiming. In fact, it’s a little further to the right or maybe even to the left. This means that you should strain your CPU and think about what the medium you have to pass through with your spear does to the rays of light.
I not only hope, but I demand of you readers of my texts that you realize that seemingly simple everyday considerations of the hunter-gatherer (back then) already require an enormous capacity for abstraction. So if man wants to be successful, he must become a „visionary“, and I mean that here only in an immediate „temporal“ sense. He simply has to be able to imagine something, to use his experiences as a basis for extrapolations. The „beginning man“ already had to ask himself important questions:
⇾ Where do you want to go?
⇾ What goals do you want to achieve?
⇾ and how can you best do this?
Questions that have not grown old, but have remained young to this day ⁉
…….. Such considerations are almost trivial, but for the first humans they meant a REVULUTION …… By the standards of the time, the brains of people at that time were almost equivalent to high-tech computers.
For it should be noted that the larger and more powerful brain, which was also able to behave socially, which was itself capable of language and thus also distributed experience and knowledge within the various groups, already had an effect on the world in a way that was not possible for any other living being before or since. There is hardly such a thing as the transportation of complex, i.e. multi-layered, experiences between simple living beings, because this also requires complex information paths and a complex language. Yes, we humans have successfully pursued this evolutionary path, just think of the vast amounts of information that we process digitally today. With the help of language, however, „ancient“ humans not only passed on a lot of basic, even existential information relating to everyday life, hunting, eating or gathering, within their group. They apparently also began to talk about their own inner worlds (their own home). Cave paintings, for example (France, the Upper Palaeolithic cave of Lascaux) tell of dreams, fears and hopes of possibly entire tribes that met there again and again. And of course people talked about it, stories were told. The fears and anxieties of their own group were certainly dealt with in a comforting and confidence-inspiring way, according to the motto: Don’t worry, we’ll help you. That was and still is the beginning of developing the full range of emotional and social skills. Everything that we understand by humanity, how we care for others when we see them suffering, our willingness to raise parentless children, to look after our grandchildren, all these are the fruits of an evolutionary process that may only have lasted a few tens of thousands of years. But it was certainly started far back in the temporal depths of primate development. Homo sapiens is quite simply the premium model in view of all the abilities that others did not have. But as is the case with premium models, unlike standard models they have a relatively high energy consumption. I’ve already said it elsewhere: our brain takes up a full 20 percent of our total energy budget, even though it weighs just under 1.5 kilograms. If this, our control center, our CPU, fails, we lack essential, almost all cognitive abilities, and we are completely defenseless, but also extremely needy.
This is matched by our willingness to help, which seems to be deeply rooted in us; but then it often doesn’t manifest itself! That is one, the good side of our sociality. The other is a much tougher side. As mammals, we are virtually „condemned“ to constantly explore our prospects for advancement within our group. This is in total contrast to insects, which come into the world and follow their predetermined destiny. A worker bee will always remain a worker bee, namely a drone; they have no chance of ever getting out. Mammals, however, can celebrate great success by acquiring new skills within their group. They can even rise to the top, to the boss. However, the price for this chance of success is quite high-namely the ongoing, usually constant competition with the others. A perpetual, typical „competitive situation“!
This continuous competition for status within one’s own group, but also in competition with other groups or tribes, became all the more important the further prehistoric man spread across the planet.
This was particularly true of the Neolithic Revolution (the gradual change from early hunter-gatherers to farmers and cattle breeders is regarded as one of the most significant upheavals in human history), which occurred shortly after the end of the last Ice Age.
In their field of activity, the „development of mankind“ was once again greatly accelerated and, above all, improved. During this time, even the first cultures were formed – „pre-cultures“, which were characterized by a common language, common fields of activity, common stories, common food preferences and much more. As you would expect, their members recognized each other by this and felt that they belonged to a certain language and story space and felt safe in it.
As is almost always the case, it turns out that only in a secure environment were early humans capable of more growth…….Growth in every respect is meant by this, physically and mentally. As far as the spatial aspect is concerned, I would say, for example, that they dared to make ever greater journeys of discovery within their language areas, which in turn enabled them to gain significantly more experience. I am referring to the development of mankind from the last ice age to its end 10,000 years ago, when the conditions were created for what happened afterwards: the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a sedentary one began. The fertile land was declared property and a cultural space was opened up. Settlements and towns were formed, cultures were established, they solidified and stabilized, sometimes for long periods of time, creating safe havens for restless explorers. These cultures competed with each other and almost without exception waged wars of conquest.
On the other hand, security in one’s own cultural area generated enormous curiosity, borders of all kinds were crossed, especially when the population size increased enormously.
There was literally a pure desire to conquer new habitats and means to achieve a goal; this made the earliest times of the Neolithic a revolutionary phase of human development.
Imagine, dear readers, for a tiny moment that we had to build a hut in the Ice Age. The wind blows icy cold around our ears, many children scream, many an infected tooth kills us and a sabre-toothed tiger sneaks around us. But we, you and I and 20 or 30 other people are able to build a very protective, warm hut. Many others freeze to death.
We experience a further valuable reinforcement of cultural development through the ability to build protective structures. Not only nomadic hunter-gatherers were able to do this, but entire cultural groups were able to communicate with each other. I maintain and say:
‼ This moment, which actually lasted several tens of thousands of years, marks the actual beginning of human history.
Of course, we have no written records from this time, but we can already look back so far and so clearly today that we can say:
‼ Now the primeval age of man is complete.I feel comfortable in saying: The continuous improvement of all qualities and characteristics, both cognitive and manual, have given rise to an actual social structure in which man has made himself stable as a member of the group.
They are constantly learning, because they and all other group members are constantly providing new information from their environment and tribe.
Humans only learn and all other group members constantly provide new information from their environment and tribe. This also ensured that not only the environment was explored better and better, but also that the use of the natural environment was continually optimized. The result of this gradual learning was the stabilization and expansion of the group; it also follows that the larger the group, the more intensively it can use the resources. The rest can be called paleo-economics because economic thinking in the sense of evolutionary development still follows.
These groups have adapted even better and have prevailed, and above all the number of group members has constantly increased.
However, in order for large groups to remain stable in the long term, certain means of control were required, but certainly not only externally, but above all internally!
Let me divert attention for a moment and turn to animal behavior. Here, for example, it is the reins that can control animal behavior and keep it in check. And the function of these is now increasingly being taken over by culture. Even today, cultural rules largely ensure that we do not behave like wild animals, but rather like humans.
If I have often used the word „culture“ in my mouth, then also say the following sentence :
‼ Becoming „culturally human“ was indeed the essential step towards modern man.
Around 10,000 years ago, he settled down and began to farm. Here, the demands of using this planet could be met to an extent that no other living creature had been able to before. In the period from 65,000 to 10,000 years before our era, the first cultural instruments were developed. Musical instruments dating back 40,000 years have been found. And about 30,000 years ago, according to scientific findings, humans finally started counting. Or as an example, just think of the impressive cave drawings in the south of France.
There you can still see aurochs, horses and rhinoceroses in the more than 400 wall paintings in the Chauvett cave in the south of France. The age of the murals themselves is estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 years. I note that a clear stabilization of groups has taken place during this time, supported by many different instruments that have something to do with „culture“ in the narrower and broader sense. It is often said that culture is above all music and dance, painting and sculpture? I say „yes“ ……Painting, music, art in all its forms puts humans in the shade compared to all other living beings. Man becomes almost supernatural. ( a little exaggerated???)
I
‼ In the end, in my opinion, he is only an insignificant part of nature, ultimately he is a product of natural evolution. ‼
…… A genuine and unique nature and life destroyer …… PROVES ME THE OPPOSITEf