The skeletal remains of an ancient form of hominid found on the island of Flores, east of Java has created excited ripples around the globe, especially among anthropologists. No doubt the find is also creating a bit of annoyance for creationists of varied religions. Good!
Reports in Nature and National Geographic raise more questions than they answer. But there is one question that haunts my mind and the answer makes me fear for the future of any such people.
I question how modern humanity could cope with ever finding another living species of hominid in some secluded location. Imagine the excitement, the rush, the challenge! Scientists, governments, religions, linguists, human rights activists, the media, lawyers and agents of all kind would be high-tailing it to a remote destination. They would all demand to be part of the scoop, the deal, the dollars, the advocacy ... each proclaiming to be working in "the best interests" of the newfound species.
While the probability of such a discovery is less than a three-legged donkey winning the Melbourne Cup, the way some scientists are talking it would be the holy grail of paleoanthropology. I fear that greed, power and ego would take priority over empathy, conservation and human rights. I honestly don't believe that 21st century humanity is any more likely to have respect for such a species than they had for any indigenous humans of the last century and we are still unable to acknowledge such wrongs to many indigenous in this century.
History is riddled with examples of how we have ruined indigenous civilisations, even to the point of their extinction. Contact with modern humans invariably runs huge risks of death through contracting disease, not to mention the cultural corruption of money, alcohol and drugs, religion, education and more.
Could we actually sit back and watch such a powerful discovery from afar without interfering? Could humanity place the rights of these people above the quest for knowledge? I wish I could believe in our ability to not intrude on something so beautiful and rare. I wish I could hope for something more than our shameful precedents offer.
Such a sad state of affairs when we place the dollar above so much else of greater importance. Viva le revolution!
ReplyDeleteMr H, as the most prolific commentator on this blog, what are your thoughts about switching to Haloscan comments? This will affect readers like yourself more than it will affect me, so its over to you for your view.
The main reason I'm looking at it is to add in the trackback system, which brings many advantages with linking other related blog information.
The comments are just a bonus as I don't see a great deal of difference, except that it may reduce the pageload time and offers non-blogger users the opportunity to leave a relevant email or URL.