RE: When do we cross the line from 'animal' to 'person?'
February 13, 2013 at 4:10 pm
(This post was last modified: February 13, 2013 at 4:28 pm by Zone.)
(February 13, 2013 at 3:58 pm)futilethewinds Wrote: Neanderthals are early humans and should be treated as such. Trust me, I'm an anthropologist. You know what else is an early human? Homo floresiensis - the "hobbits." Tiny humans. OMG, biological anthropology rocks.
Neanderthals were pretty late in the evolutionary line of hominids. They would have been near enough the same kind of thing, put one in modern clothes, give him a shave and stick him on the tube and no-one would particularly notice. Homo floresiensis would have been from a more ancient homo erectus lineage probably part of the first wave migration out of Africa. They wouldn't pass as a normal human midget as they would look and behave like a sort of goblin creature I imagine. They made sophisticated stone tools considering their tiny nugget of a brain so they may have been more advanced than is supposed. I'm not sure if there is a clear cut line it just seems like a matter of gradual degrees. It's like asking where the line was between when you were a child and an adult, there wasn't one.
