Monday, January 31, 2011

True Human

Maybe we're not even true humans anymore.

A definition for species (though often contested) is a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. No problems there, since we're all capable of interbreeding.

But this merely means that we're all the same species, not necessarily that we're human. Perhaps we've acquired so many minute mutations, so many incremental changes, that we're too different.

If there was a time machine, would we be able to successfully mate with an ancestor from many millennia ago?

1 comment:

Benedict said...

Dear Sir, the answer is yes, prima facie. But aids would have evolved much earlier due to sapien-simian intercourse.

Unless the evolountionist theory is mistaken, or that in your specific individual case, your ancester is neither a simian nor fauna, but is a mushroom or cabbage, which is entirely possible.

Please be careful in your chrono-trip. If you go too far back, you may find it unappealing to consider mating with the primordial ooze, in face of cultural differences.

Dr Aries