Key Roles In Human Evolution

Human science, which is tens of thousands of years old, has hitherto been plagued with idealistic prejudices. Scientists who were considered to be the most advanced of their contemporaries, even though they considered that human evolution underwent changes, at the end of their research often accepted supernatural things in the process of human evolution. It was Darwin who discovered that humans are the result of the gradual development -- which is also filled with leaps -- from the Anthropoid ape nation. The advanced stages of development from ape relatives to humans as we know them today certainly did not result from the mythical six-day creation of the holy Bible, but from Survival of the Fittest and Struggle of Existence , theories developed by Darwin.

This idea went against the religious prejudices of the time. Darwin's theory that humans are descended from animals destroys all idealistic dogmas about the creation of humans. This theory received enthusiastic response from those who understand it. "Humans descended from monkeys" is a ridiculous theory for those who do not understand the contents of Darwin's theory. This idea is still difficult for the general public to accept because it contradicts what has so far been understood by those who have accepted that nature and its contents are the way they are.

The theory of evolution is nothing new to us. Long before Darwin made his conclusions about the theory of evolution, the great philosopher Hegel had made this the central point of his philosophy. After Darwin expounded his theory in the book The Origin of Species, it struck like a thunderbolt in broad daylight and shocked millions of people. Since then the theory of evolution has been inextricably linked with the name Darwin.

Humans, or what are called Homo Sapiens, come from the Hominid ("Great Ape") family. About 14 million years ago, the Hominid family first appeared and then in its journey for millions of years experienced evolution into hundreds or even thousands of species, one of which was humans - who appeared approximately 200 thousand years ago. So it took more than 13 million years of evolution to create today's modern humans.

In the struggle for life, primitive humans and other creatures face nature. When nature provides enough food, these primitive humans will inhabit the area until their food sources run out. And they have to leave and move to another place if the place where they live presents new food sources. This condition triggers the largest migration of anthropoid apes in Africa.

About 4 million years ago, due to climate and environmental changes, a number of Hominid apes (ancestors of modern humans) gradually abandoned their climbing habits, started walking upright and freeing their hands. This is evidenced by the discovery of Australopithecus Afarensis fossils , which in analysis of the form and function of the bones revealed that their shoulders were the same as those of apes. In this stage, some monkeys still live an arboreal lifestyle (living in trees). The discovery of this fossil shows that the apes began to abandon their climbing habit and started walking upright. Food shortages trigger migration to new food areas. This is what triggers the abandonment of the habit of climbing.

As the law of growth relations expounded by Darwin, living things take on bodily forms according to operations frequently used. Polar Bears tend to have more fat than Sun Bears. This is due to the geographical and climatic conditions they live in are different. Bears need thick blubber because the climate is very cold. The structure and shape of human muscles when doing a lot of sports activities will certainly enlarge and harden. The same goes for the transition from climbing to walking upright. The structure of the shoulder and hip bones gradually and at a certain stage changes function according to the habit of walking upright in apes.

With this the modern human development process did not come from a single standing type, but from adaptation to the means of life that lasted millions of years. Both plants and animals pass their generations according to natural conditions. Through the process of natural selection, they assumed body forms suited to the conditions and means of life. Species that adapt to natural conditions will continue to change until at one point they change into another species, namely a change in quantity becomes a change in quality. Like the process of human development that was originally from the most primitive Hominid ape changed qualitatively to become the human we know today. Thus we come to the conclusion that the process of forming new species continues to form from old ones.

After freeing the hands from the function of walking, human development begins to move rapidly. The function and shape of the fingers to suit the activity they do. It is work that carries out the further perfection of human development. By reproducing the tools of labour, man changes the entire course of history. The introduction of work not only affected the physical form of humans but they tried to attract and differentiate themselves from the other hordes of bipedal apes (straight-walking apes).

Food Diet and Brain Development

One of the most interesting developments in human evolution is their cognitive development. Freeing the hands makes the division of labor in the human body more complex. Previously, the use of hands was only used by monkeys to build nests, protect their children in case of attack from enemies and collect food. Now that they walk upright, the function of the hands can be used to make tools for the struggle for survival. This struggle for survival underwent a drastic change as soon as the bipedal apes became familiar with the use of tools, a characteristic which later became the character of modern humans and distinguished them from all other animals.

Animals struggle and compete with their special natural organs. Eagles can successfully catch their prey with their eyes and wings. Rabbits rely on their feet and ears. Dogs that rely on their keen sense of smell. It is the use of these special natural organs that are used by animals to survive.

Now let's ask the same question of the human world. Humans do not struggle with their special natural organs. But through artificial organs, namely through tools – be it weapons or working tools. If animals make improvements to their special natural organs, such as polar bears which store fat due to being in cold temperatures, humans use protective clothing to survive the cold temperatures. The harder the struggle for life, the more perfect the struggle for this instrument becomes. He who has better tools can survive, defend their community from enemy attacks and conquer prey.

With the discovery of this working tool, what humans consume is increasingly diverse, namely from an all-vegetative diet to an all-meat diet. Looking for game animals is an activity that is carried out besides collecting vegetative food. By consuming all-meat, the bipedal apes made simultaneous advances in the use of fire, so that they were able to consume food that was practically half-digested. The ability to make fire was first developed by the species Homo Erectus -- that is, a close human ancestor (Homo Sapiens) -- about 400,000 years ago. With the ability to make fire, a lot of food – both vegetative and meat – can be cooked and digested by humans much better.

There is no doubt that adopting an all-meat diet plays a unique role in human development, particularly in terms of their brain development. An all-meat diet is also related to genes that operate in the brain so that genes evolve more quickly. Protein and gene sequences changed more quickly than expected. This was possible due to adaptation to a new food diet.

When compared to other ape families that tend to consume an all-vegetative diet, an all-meat diet reveals how quickly Myelin (Myelin is the insulating fat around the axon connections of the brain) in the Cerebral Cortex grows in the evolution of human cognitive development. The development of the Neocortex in humans can play an important role in the growth of connections that contribute to the cognitive abilities of our species. The development of myelination is very important because it establishes connectivity to the developing parts of the brain that are responsible for high-level cognitive functions. Rapid cognitive development makes it easier for humans to conclude and utilize what exists in nature for their survival.

The difference between natural special organs and artificial organs, namely tools, makes humans increasingly distinguish themselves from other animals. If animals can live with whoever is strong survives, this is different from humans. Humans live in community. The division of labor actually protects the weak and allows the strongest to carry out the function of being the guardian of the community. The existence of a division of labor requires the existence of relations of production and social organization. This division of labor makes community members closer and feel that the division of labor together is more profitable than individual work. The further development of the division of labor brought about higher progress of human civilization. At first humans generalized nature and then conquered it.

The closer the members of society, the more planned the process of production of human life. This modification of the primitive man's larynx arose from the production process. Group life triggers the use of language which brings about rapid progress in the planning of production processes and helps humans to conquer nature in a planned way.

In this stage of human development changes. Starting from primitive developments that only depend on nature and now they are starting to revolutionize the means of production. If animals adapted to perfecting their special natural organs, humans are constantly adapting by revolutionizing the means of production and exchange.

It is from this development of the means of production that production relations are created. Since the production tools they use are made of stone, they collectively hunt and gather to survive without any extra products being produced. Immediately after the development of the modern means of production, the production they produce also increases, so that more products are created that are able to maintain members of society who are free from daily work. The ability to sustain the living members of society from this surplus product stimulated the development of the sciences, which in turn led to the more advanced development of the productive forces. Now the development of production power is getting bigger with sophisticated machines, humans are able to produce more and more products in abundance,

Humans work to survive with these means of production. No matter how skilled these humans are without the means of production, they cannot work. Carpenters without using a saw they cannot easily cut wood. But what we see now is that the means of production (machines, factories, etc.) are owned by a handful of people, forcing other humans to sell their labor power to the owner of these means of production. The production relations of capitalism are now a shackle to the forces of production. When today's human production power is thousands of times greater than that of barbarian humans 10 thousand years ago, our society is even more unable to maintain the general welfare of all people.

In evolution, humans are constantly adapting by changing their means of production as well as the relations of production. Changes in production relations – namely the economic order – are a form of human adaptation, a form of modern human evolution. When today's economic order has become shackles, then humans will adapt by changing this economic order. He must adapt or he will die. From slavery, to feudalism, to capitalism. This is the change or (r)evolution of the economic order that we have witnessed. The next human evolution is the adaptation of the economic order from capitalism to socialism, by the method of social revolution.

In this way – namely socialism – humans will completely rule over nature and enjoy a better life on this planet. We shall see the future production relations embodied in socialism. The struggle to increase the productive forces and perfect the means of production does not stop at this point. Unlike in capitalism which limits every science to the future of mankind, because in a capitalist system whoever has capital can enjoy knowledge. Socialism will lead to great productive forces. Private ownership of the means of production will be abolished. No fate of life is held by a handful of people. The means of production will belong to the whole of society, be used and developed in a planned and highly democratic manner.

The abolition of classes in society will lead to the establishment of the greatest productive forces in the history of civilization. Fighting and competition between humans will stop with the collapse of capitalism. With a large and planned production force, shortening working hours makes people free to study science with all the abundance of necessities. Due to technical and scientific developments, this cannot be called a struggle. Nature bowed to man as man ascended from the animal kingdom. The struggle for life using artificial organs will stop. Under socialism a new round of human civilization will begin.