a brief word on evolution

as an anthropologist, even the cultural/linguistic variety i deal a lot with evolution and evolutionary theory. I recently saw somewhere that roughly half of the american population when asked, believed that the human race in modern form is only around 10,000 years old. solid evidence indicates that the americas were beginning to have human habitation at least 14,000 years ago. Modern humans have been around for at least 150,000 years- and that is a safe estimate.

       one thing that any biologist will tell you though is that its not that cut and dry. how we go about defining a species alone is incredibly complex, and heated debates still go on to this day. Just the science alone is a headache, and takes lots of effort to sort through. But this is not the only issue that arises. the things i have the hardest time with in evolutionary theory are very similar to the problems i have with organized religion. its not the concepts, or the data, or a refusal to believe, but being aware of individual biases and what certain goals are, and the shortcuts and underhanded manipulation of data to support oneself for personal gain. there was a find once in africa i believe, that was claimed to be a new type of early hominoid- the bone that was found was actually discovered to be a whale clavicle!!! personal attacks through academic papers are not uncommon, and in some instances the norm. Individual prestige and the quest to keep finding money in order to do research becomes so predominant that the actual science itself is placed in the background sometimes.

This of course happens everywhere. Joseph Smith, the founder of the mormon religion not only believed that Native Americans were a lost tribe of Israel, but him and many others (including archaeologists) actually planted tablets of hebrew writing in burial sites to be 'discovered' as evidence of their claims. 

i guess the lesson here is to go learn for yourself. Data does not tell us anything in its raw form. It is only through diligent observation, synthesizing many fields of research, understanding ones motivations and biases (or the researcher you are looking at, including me), and slowly building up interpretations that we can begin to piece things together. we also have to be ready accept and defend the truth we have today, but be prepared to call it falsehood tomorrow in light of new evidence (i believe that was a Clarence Darrow quote).

and go watch chimpanzees. they are funny. and as my roommate corin suggested, we should just label them another species of homo sapiens, thats how human they act sometimes.