Origin and Survival of the Human Being
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
Nearly 50,000 years ago, a small group of men and women who survived a bitter ice age left Africa in search of food. Two thousand generations later and with a world population of 7 billion, it is difficult to believe that this small group are our ancestors. Our DNA shows that we are all the same race whose differences in appearance correspond to the adaptations made as it settled in the various regions of the planet.
Our species of homo sapiens was born 200,000 years ago and was the only species that survived and evolved, although it was on the verge of disappearing on several occasions. But it was saved from extinction by its intelligence, genetic capacity and mutations, while changes in the climate enabled a great leap forward in its evolution.
Based on the fossil remains and analysis of his DNA, one can go back to the origins of homo sapiens and his evolution, and therefore we know that they have been in South Africa for about 65, 000 years and that only a few hundred survived the ice age by sheltering in caves on the South African coast, feeding on tubers and seafood. When food became scarce, they moved southeast and the first area where they settled was Australia, because at that time the sea level was very low and there were only 250 kilometers of water. Although we don’t know how they managed to cross those 250 kilometers, there are fossil remains from 50,000 years ago that now confirm this unusual fact.
They settled in Central Asia, India and China 45,000 years ago. Although the group that reached India managed to adapt easily, the one that reached China remained isolated for several generations and had to develop genetic mutations to enable them to adapt to their new habitat, and that is how the special features of Asians came about. But China changed again when intense droughts occurred, and so the Central Asian group left for colder lands in search of pasture for their animals and that’s how they came to settle in Europe 40,000 years ago.
Finally humans arrived in America only 15,000 years ago and again climate change was the most important factor. In the last ice age, an Asian group crossed the Bering Strait when it was frozen and when the water level rose again they were stranded on the new continent where they developed the indigenous features of the new settlers of America. So it was a mere 500 generations ago that homo sapiens managed to reach all the habitable zones on the planet.
Today the human species is facing a new, totally unpredictable climate change that may lead it to a new stage in its evolution. There is very clear evidence that the evolution of human beings was faster than that of other animal species, and that is still the case at present. There is scientific research showing that the current evolution of the human being is a hundred times faster now than at any other time in its history since the emergence of agriculture.
Scientists and philosophers say that there are two basic factors that have contributed to this situation: diet and disease. But at the end of the day the main hypothesis about the evolution of modern man is still that they began to develop in Africa and from there they moved to different parts of the world, evolving and adapting to different environments.
Addendum: Among the many hypotheses that try to explain the reason for the great development of the intellect and emotional control in humans compared to other animal species, the one that is most accepted is that the human being, and no other animal species, created a sui generis communication formula, that is, oral and written language, which led to the gradual disappearance of gestural communication using body movements that only remained in the majority of the most advanced animal species.
Other important factors that determined the superiority of the human race over the other animal species were the emergence of the first social groups and the formation of warlike groups that tried to protect the material possessions of human beings and began to be used to defend these possessions and increase them as much as possible.
At present a new language has emerged that has no feeling and no words. It is becoming widespread throughout the world and undoubtedly will completely transform the human species, but we don’t know if it will be for their good, will make them suffer or wipe them from the face of the Earth.