Neanderthals were a lot like homosapiens (in fact they could breed, and they did) They could paint cave walls. They had culture and social structures. They were destroyed by violent invaders.
My family has a high percentage of genetic Neanderthal ancestry. I think about my Neanderthal ancestors in passing.
I do hold a bit of grief that I will never know them, or our Neanderthal culture, or what happened. I will never know or understand their funeral rights. And I will never be able to honor them in a way they would appreciate.
Neanderthals only became extinct from earth a mere 40,000 years ago. But there’s new science that just dropped this week that our hybrid offspring existed and lived alongside Homosapien for much longer:
The dating of the Lapedo Child thus expands the debate on the extent and duration of human-Neanderthal interactions. Genetic evidence suggests interbreeding began at least 49,000 years ago and continued for roughly 7,000 years. However, if the Lapedo Child, a hybrid individual, lived around 28,000 years ago, then questions arise as to whether genetic exchanges lasted longer than previously thought or whether hybrid traits appeared in later generations. March 7, 2025Archeology Mag
Some of us from the East have Denisovian genetics. They became extinct only 25,000 years ago, I believe.
Compared to all of humanoid existence— being alone as the sole humanoid species is the anomaly.
All of time and history up until modern history Homo Sapiens shared our earth. But as far as I understand, we have no modern cultural memory or history of our interactions. Only through our modern science and forensics do we attempt to piece together our real humanoid history.
Now we look to the stars and ask why are we all alone on this planet?
And I can’t help but conclude the same as you:
We are alone because at some point…we decided to be the only humanoids.
From what i read the replacement didn’t even have to be particularly violent, there were just not that many of them to begin with in comparison to homosapiens.
i think you’ve got to consider the audience. roughly 1 in 5 americans are ILLITERATE. about 1 in 2 americans read at a 6th grade level. it’s easier to manipulate these people than a bunch of preschool kids.
I gotchu these stats come from the 2012 & 2014 PIAAC, or Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (only done every 10 years so this is the latest data available but the next cycle/data set is coming soon)
18% are below level one, defined as;
The tasks at this level require the respondent to read brief texts on familiar topics to locate a single piece of specific information. There is seldom any competing information in the text, and the requested information is identical in form to information in the question or directive. The respondent may be required to locate information in short continuous texts; however, in this case, the information can be located as if the text were noncontinuous in format. Only basic vocabulary knowledge is required, and the reader is not required to understand the structure of sentences or paragraphs or make use of other text features. Tasks below Level 1 do not make use of any features specific to digital texts.
With 4% of those being actually entirely illiterate
the usa withdrew from the UN’s literacy program and data collection decades ago amidst continuous cuts ti public education. many kids in my state only have classes 4 days a week
our schools have become child warehouses thanks to Bush’s dedication to standardized testing, Obama’s dedication to fixing the standardized testing problem not by saying “this didn’t work” but instead focusing on getting more kids into charter schools, Trump’s dedication to just simply ruining the whole thing by defunding and deregulating, and then Biden’s inability to address any of the things that really mattered, instead focusing on traditional economic indicators.
They’re comparing the current administration, which is canceling all research and progress such as the invention of the wheel (or other scientific development), to the Neanderthals, who are in pop culture stupid and backward people.
But it falls flat because Neanderthals were smarter than Trump and Elon combined.
I was initially really confused by this meme because Neanderthals were actually creative and rather culturally rich, unlike this administration.
Neanderthals were a lot like homosapiens (in fact they could breed, and they did) They could paint cave walls. They had culture and social structures. They were destroyed by violent invaders.
My family has a high percentage of genetic Neanderthal ancestry. I think about my Neanderthal ancestors in passing.
I do hold a bit of grief that I will never know them, or our Neanderthal culture, or what happened. I will never know or understand their funeral rights. And I will never be able to honor them in a way they would appreciate.
Neanderthals only became extinct from earth a mere 40,000 years ago. But there’s new science that just dropped this week that our hybrid offspring existed and lived alongside Homosapien for much longer:
Some of us from the East have Denisovian genetics. They became extinct only 25,000 years ago, I believe.
Compared to all of humanoid existence— being alone as the sole humanoid species is the anomaly.
All of time and history up until modern history Homo Sapiens shared our earth. But as far as I understand, we have no modern cultural memory or history of our interactions. Only through our modern science and forensics do we attempt to piece together our real humanoid history.
Now we look to the stars and ask why are we all alone on this planet?
And I can’t help but conclude the same as you: We are alone because at some point…we decided to be the only humanoids.
the level of neanderthal ancestry in modern humans suggests they were destroyed by horny invaders
Sounds like the story of how the US was founded, tbh.
It’s how every country was founded.
Ethiopia
From what i read the replacement didn’t even have to be particularly violent, there were just not that many of them to begin with in comparison to homosapiens.
All animals breed
I think they meant to say interbreed, ie, sapiens and neanders fucked each other. vast majority of humans living today have neanderthal DNA in them.
Almost a paradox.
i think you’ve got to consider the audience. roughly 1 in 5 americans are ILLITERATE. about 1 in 2 americans read at a 6th grade level. it’s easier to manipulate these people than a bunch of preschool kids.
This makes me feel simultaneously very good and very very bad.
QED
ImprovisedQuirky Education Disclaimer3/4 of a Northern California public radio affiliate (
KQED)And of course
Illiterate as in, they can’t read or write at all? I mean, how?
I gotchu these stats come from the 2012 & 2014 PIAAC, or Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (only done every 10 years so this is the latest data available but the next cycle/data set is coming soon)
18% are below level one, defined as;
With 4% of those being actually entirely illiterate
Breakdown
Actual methodology and whatnot
the usa withdrew from the UN’s literacy program and data collection decades ago amidst continuous cuts ti public education. many kids in my state only have classes 4 days a week
our schools have become child warehouses thanks to Bush’s dedication to standardized testing, Obama’s dedication to fixing the standardized testing problem not by saying “this didn’t work” but instead focusing on getting more kids into charter schools, Trump’s dedication to just simply ruining the whole thing by defunding and deregulating, and then Biden’s inability to address any of the things that really mattered, instead focusing on traditional economic indicators.
I still am. This comic (I don’t think it’s a “meme”) makes no sense.
He’s being told to stop inventing the wheel.
Your username is great.
I get that but what do Neanderthals have to do with it?
They’re comparing the current administration, which is canceling all research and progress such as the invention of the wheel (or other scientific development), to the Neanderthals, who are in pop culture stupid and backward people.
But it falls flat because Neanderthals were smarter than Trump and Elon combined.
Homo neanderthalensis probably had a slightly larger brain too.