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Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

nytimes.com

21–30 of 76 posts

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#21
post #18

> Since 2004, Dr. Hublin and his colleagues have been working through layers of rocks on a desert hillside at Jebel Irhoud. I have so much respect for archeologists. Spending over a decade in one spot, literally on hands and knees, digging and meticulously sifting through anything that is found, is to me the epitome of dedication to a craft. But another part of me thinks: there must be a better way! I know that exped…

That might be an interesting project. Deep learning + a headset camera thing.

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#22
post #18

> Since 2004, Dr. Hublin and his colleagues have been working through layers of rocks on a desert hillside at Jebel Irhoud. I have so much respect for archeologists. Spending over a decade in one spot, literally on hands and knees, digging and meticulously sifting through anything that is found, is to me the epitome of dedication to a craft. But another part of me thinks: there must be a better way! I know that exped…

There's ground-penetrating_radar but that just helps you know where to toil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-penetrating_radar

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#23
post #18

> Since 2004, Dr. Hublin and his colleagues have been working through layers of rocks on a desert hillside at Jebel Irhoud. I have so much respect for archeologists. Spending over a decade in one spot, literally on hands and knees, digging and meticulously sifting through anything that is found, is to me the epitome of dedication to a craft. But another part of me thinks: there must be a better way! I know that exped…

taking lots of images + mechanical turk?

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#24
post #18

> Since 2004, Dr. Hublin and his colleagues have been working through layers of rocks on a desert hillside at Jebel Irhoud. I have so much respect for archeologists. Spending over a decade in one spot, literally on hands and knees, digging and meticulously sifting through anything that is found, is to me the epitome of dedication to a craft. But another part of me thinks: there must be a better way! I know that exped…

Also one of the last professions to be automated in the future because of complexity/specialization vs monetary benefit :)

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#25
post #16
post #7

But that's what exciting about science. It doesn't claim to come with ready made answers about our surroundings, humans discover things on their own. Sometimes humans get things wrong, and there is no shame in being wrong with science, it's part of the process, unlike "other domains" where people can or will never admin they are wrong, while still using the product of science every day, in contradiction to their own…

I don't know, the inability to admit being wrong is a human trait and can apply to anyone, including scientists and believers. Why does everyone think that there's only two "origin" stories and they're both mutually exclusive? I believe in evolution, and I'm a monotheist. I don't reach this conclusion very easily. Why not evolution as God's* way of creating things. *I hesitate to use this word because of the baggage…

Science is about stuff that is falsifiable.

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#26

The clock is "reset" on these types of things so frequently that I can help wondering why we speak so confidently about the origins of our species, and how long we've been here, and ultimately where we came from on this earth.

Not that long ago we thought the sun orbited around the Earth.

Do we know better? Probably. Are we correct in our understanding of the natural world? Hell no.

"All models are wrong; some models are very useful", as the adage goes. Science isn't so much about being right as it is about being less wrong.

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#28
post #16
post #7

But that's what exciting about science. It doesn't claim to come with ready made answers about our surroundings, humans discover things on their own. Sometimes humans get things wrong, and there is no shame in being wrong with science, it's part of the process, unlike "other domains" where people can or will never admin they are wrong, while still using the product of science every day, in contradiction to their own…

I don't know, the inability to admit being wrong is a human trait and can apply to anyone, including scientists and believers. Why does everyone think that there's only two "origin" stories and they're both mutually exclusive? I believe in evolution, and I'm a monotheist. I don't reach this conclusion very easily. Why not evolution as God's* way of creating things. *I hesitate to use this word because of the baggage…

Why not evolution as "God's" way of creating things? Well, why not anything? You can posit anything you want, can you test it? Is there evidence to support it?

Why monotheist? How do you know for certain there aren't more gods? How did you arrive at that conclusion? Can you test it? Could you admit your belief in monotheism could possibly be mistaken?

We can ask "why not anything?" all day and not get anywhere so it's more worthwhile to focus on the things for which evidence can actually be gathered. Evolution is testable and there exists much evidence of it occurring in the past. The other origin, not so much.

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#29
post #18

> Since 2004, Dr. Hublin and his colleagues have been working through layers of rocks on a desert hillside at Jebel Irhoud. I have so much respect for archeologists. Spending over a decade in one spot, literally on hands and knees, digging and meticulously sifting through anything that is found, is to me the epitome of dedication to a craft. But another part of me thinks: there must be a better way! I know that exped…

There's ground-penetrating_radar but that just helps you know where to toil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-penetrating_radar

Hmm, turns out there is a whole wiki page devoted to that and other methodologies for archaeological surveying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophysical_survey_(archaeolog...

Re: Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco

#30

The clock is "reset" on these types of things so frequently that I can help wondering why we speak so confidently about the origins of our species, and how long we've been here, and ultimately where we came from on this earth.

My impression is that the experts don't speak with a ton of confidence. Popularized versions tend to present the latest "this seems kinda likely, but who knows..." as fact.
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