Re: [asa] Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors

At 06:29 PM 2/17/2007, Richard Fischer wrote:
>Hi Janice, you wrote:
>
>@ I'm surprised that this book isn't on the list.
>
>I hope the book is better than the review! Talk about a hatchett
>job. And what qualifies a clinical psychologist to review a book
>about genetics anyway? ~ Dick

@@ I don't think you want to open up that can of worms, do
you? http://tinyurl.com/2zfuof

~ Janice :)

>Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
>
>For one person's review of the book, click
>here http://www.onecosmos.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to:
>
>Sunday, February 11, 2007
>I've Discovered the Gene For Ignoring my Genes!
>
>As mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm in the midst of reading a
>relatively new and state-of-the-art book on human origins entitled
>Before the Dawn. [link below]
>
>.......Before the Dawn discusses all of the new research made
>possible by the Human Genome Project. The data can be studied in all
>kinds of clever and innovative ways in order to deduce various
>conclusions about our origins.
>
>The book confirms the fact that there is a vast difference between
>"anatomically modern" and "behaviorally modern" human beings, the
>former of which appear as early as 200,000 years ago. And yet, truly
>human behavior does not emerge until as recently as 45,000 years
>ago. And it emerged quite suddenly, in such a way that it defies any
>traditional Darwinan explanation. In fact, many traditional
>paleo-anthropologists reject the sudden emergence of our humanness,
>but only because their religion (strict Darwinism) makes it
>impossible. Therefore, they argue that the transition must have been
>gradual, even though this is not what the archaeological evidence
>shows. What do you call someone who maintains a belief system
>despite contrary evidence?
>
>Anyway, genetics comes to the rescue, because the author of Before
>the Dawn says that Darwinian evolution must be able to occur much
>more rapidly than any of us had previously realized. Therefore,
>whether the transition from ape to human was slow or sudden, it's
>all good. Darwinism explains it.
>
>What do you call a philosophy that is so elastic that it accounts
>for opposite scenarios? "I was for the gradual descent of man before
>I was against it."
>
>You will never hear it come out of my mouth that genes are
>unimportant things. However, the author makes the point that our DNA
>is 99% identical to that of a chimpanzee. Oddly, he uses this
>statistic to emphasize the importance of genes, when to me it would
>appear to highlight the opposite. I say this because a moment's
>reflection will reveal to you that the ontological gulf between a
>human being and any animal is actually infinite.
>
>Put it this way: how would you characterize the distance between an
>animal, whose every behavior is genetically determined, and a being
>who has transcended his genetic program to such an extent that he is
>able to pick and choose those aspects of it that he would prefer to
>ignore? Again, being that he is a primitive New York Timesman, the
>author doesn't give a moment's serious thought to religion, but
>dismisses it with a passing observation buried in a sentence to the
>effect that it was selected (of course) by our genes "as a means of
>social cohesion." If so, one can only wonder how he and all of his
>fellow Homo crapians among the secular left managed to escape this
>gene's influence?
>
>Again, he seems to be arguing that genes are all-important, but not
>so important that you can't simply ignore them if you wish. In fact,
>you can even have contempt for your own genetic religious
>proclivities (projected into others, of course), which is a rather
>odd thing. Ever heard of a chimp who had contempt for his
>banana? ~ Robert Godwin, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychologist) 2/11/07
>
>Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
>by
><http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200793//exec/obidos/search-handle-url/105-6368525-1526059?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Nicholas%20Wade>Nicholas
>Wade (Author) "TRAVEL BACK INTO THE HUMAN PAST, and the historical
>evidence is plentiful enough for the first couple of hundred years,
>then rapidly diminishes..."
>(<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200793//gp/reader/1594200793/ref=sib_fs_top/105-6368525-1526059?ie=UTF8&p=S00D&checkSum=1jzKLy7Yv3Txt3fbCldiu8BGbogVrfOVDw%2FN65eezqw%3D#reader-link>
>more) Key Phrases:
><http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200793//phrase/Near-East/ref=cap_top_0/105-6368525-1526059>Near
>East,
><http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200793//phrase/Upper-Paleolithic/ref=cap_top_1/105-6368525-1526059>Upper
>Paleolithic,
><http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200793//phrase/New-Guinea/ref=cap_top_2/105-6368525-1526059>New
>Guinea (more...)
>http://www.amazon.com/Before-Dawn-Recovering-History-Ancestors/dp/1594200793
>
>
>
>

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Received on Sat Feb 17 18:57:44 2007