A very interesting article on neoteny in humans: http://www.davidbrin.com/neoteny1.html
Apparently Homo sapiens - amongst all species of animals - are one of the most neotenous species in existence. The portion on female human development (early on in the article) implies another separation between our species and 'everyone else'. Is this another false conclusion supported by evidence that was compiled (perhaps unwittingly) under and for it?
This is interesting and I would be interested in knowing how these claims are quantified. How does one measure how neotenous a species is? What are some other highly-neotenous species (for comparison)? I am also highly suspicious of the female/male gap that he describes because there seems to be a wide range in the sex-gap among species. In some species, it is nearly impossible to discern male/female, while in others the two sexes hardly look like the same species. Humans are not at either of those extremes. Is there a way to quantify the number of differences in physical features?
ReplyDeleteIt seems interesting to me that he continually states that hypotheses should be offered with care and speculation should be meted with caution. It is difficult in the field of paleoanthropology to make a stout claim; however, isn't that the purpose of scientific hypotheses? If we are making an educated guess based upon research and supporting evidence then we must allow for exceptions to the rule. If we can accept that hypotheses can be disproven but not proven then we are stating all claims with caution. Wording seems to be a bit tenuous in this article and although he makes an interesting point I believe that his cautious approach is telling of his hypothetical position.
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