Just six million years ago, a female monkey had two daughters: one
became the ancestor of all chimpanzees, and the other the ancestor of
all humans.
Homo Sapiens, the species to which all human beings
belong today, is just one of the numerous species of man that
simultaneously began to populate the Earth two million years ago, first
evolving, and then almost all disappearing, at random times and places,
to finally become extinct at least 10 thousand years or so ago. So how
come Homo Sapiens is the only one left? There are two conflicting
theories which are more or less accepted, according to one’s take on the
scientific research, and, unfortunately on one’s political tendencies:
there is the ‘Interbreeding Theory’, which tells the story of
attraction, sex and mingling between Sapiens and the other species
inhabiting the territories that they travelled to, and there is the
‘Replacement Theory’, which tells a story of incompatibility, revulsion,
and perhaps even genocide.
In any case, all members of the ‘homo’
species had something in common: a big brain, which was heavy and
hungry for energy; a skeleton that had to quickly learn to hold a body
up and no longer walk on four legs; and fragile offspring that they had
to protect and raise within a tribe. But above all, they had a diet
based on plants, insects and bone marrow – the last edible tissue left
behind by lions, hyenas and jackals.
Just 400 thousand years ago,
some species of humans began diligently hunting large animals, and only
when Homo Sapiens appeared, around 100 thousand years ago, did man take
his place at the top of the food chain. This is the key to understanding
the history of human psychology: unlike majestic predators, such as
sharks and lions, humans didn’t give the ecosystem time to adapt to
their success…and they didn’t even give themselves time to do so. Until
very recently, humans had been the scavengers of the savannah, and they
were very worried about their position. This is the reason why, still
today, Homo Sapiens’ fear of being ousted makes them extremely cruel and
dangerous.
