WANDER

 ...e/ou WONDER?

Not all those who wander are lost.

J. R. R. Tolkian, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954

(DeSilva, 2022: 145)

 

The advantages of bipedal locomotion obviously outweigh the costs. Otherwise, we would have gone extinct long ago. But given the many downsides to upright walking and how rare this form of locomotion is in the animal world, I’ve wondered what tipped the scales toward survival rather than extinction.

The answer may be found with one of the most wonderful and mysterious aspects of the human condition. To understand, we have to revisit the human fossil record.

(DeSilva, 2022: 253-254)

 

Life was hard for our ancestors. Richard Wrangham calls this the “Goodness Paradox”. How can we humans be both cruel and compassionate? Scholars have debated the essence of human nature for centuries. Are we innately violent and restrain our aggressive tendencies through rules and group norms, or are we peaceful by nature and become aggressive in oppressive societies that celebrate violence and the patriarchy?

(DeSilva, 2022: 258)

 

LIVRO

DeSilva, Jeremy. 2022. First Steps – How Walking Upright Made Us Human. Dublin: Harper Collins Publishers