This page contains the footnotes for Human Cultural Evolution, a chapter in the book Taking ADvantage.
3 Jane Goodall has observed that chimps don't scavenge for
meat. They pass by dead animals, and only eat those that they kill
themselves. (Leakey, 1978)
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4 100 grams of venison yields 572 calories; 100 grams of
most fruits and vegetables yields well under 100 calories. This six to
one differential in the concentration of nourishment in meat versus
vegetation made meat an extremely valuable element in the survival of
earlyhumans. (White, 1973)
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5 A theory on why the zebra's stripes evolved supports
this idea. Although on the individual zebra the stripes are striking and
obvious, making the animal quite visible, when a herd of zebras run, the
constantly shifting, flickering a nd confusing patterns of stripes makes
it much more difficult to discern, and thus attack, an individual
animal.
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6 Bear in mind that the life-spans of animals vary
considerably, usually based on their size. For example, the mouse lives
for months while the elephant lives for decades. Nonetheless, the
relative proportion of that lifespan that the young spend in childhood is
a good indicator of the animal's intelligence and social complexity.
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7 Undoubtedly, the men trained the boys in male skills
such as hunting, while the women trained the girls in female skills such
as plant identification and child rearing. Nonetheless, the females would
have given the children the basics in fitting into the society, including,
as it evolved, language.
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8 In fact, humans are not born capable of speech. An
infant's larynx doesn't alter to the form that will allow speech for
months. This means it can suckle and breathe through its nose at the same
time with no fear of choking.
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9 It might be argued that wars aren't fought that way,
that armies depend on the group mentality. This is true to an extent.
However, modern warfare that uses the group approach is just that, modern.
Until about 2500 years ago, battles were basically two mobs beating on
each other until one mob ran away. The Greeks, especially the Spartans,
really began the group approach. The Roman army was so successful against
the Gauls, Germans and Scots because the latter fought as mobs against
the Roman's disciplined group approach. However, this is an artificial
rather than an evolved approach. In fact, what the Greeks and Romans did
was to take the male approach of independent reaction to conditions, and
have many men do it at once: each Roman century (80-100 men) was simply
one very powerful man with lots of arms, legs, spears and swords -- the
brain was the centurion. Even today's armies depend on each soldier's
independent work. A platoon has an objective, but each man, depending on
what the enemy and his fellow soldiers are doing, selects his own targets,
moves when he thinks right, takes initiative to achieve the objective in
the most efficient, least fatal way. His training is designed to improve
his ability to act this way: independent, but in concert with the other
members of his team.
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In addition,
I, Richard F. Taflinger, accept no responsibility for WSU or ERMSC
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