Origins of our species
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Untangling our roots
New research suggests that the familiar story of early human society is wrong – and the consequences are profound, as David Graeber and David Wengrow explain.
Overwhelming evidence from archaeology, anthropology and kindred disciplines is beginning to give us a fairly clear idea of what the last 40,000 years of human history really looked like, and in almost no way does it resemble the conventional narrative. Our species did not, in fact, spend most of its history in tiny bands; agriculture did not mark an irreversible threshold in social evolution; the first cities were often robustly egalitarian.
Felling the family tree
Hereditary traits and even eugenics are back in the headlines, as a series of new books seek to influence the nature-nurture debate. Angela Saini assesses.
Heritability is a topic about which, for many decades, some scientists have been very comfortable making bold proclamations. But the science remains remarkably unclear. The genomics revolution of the last couple of decades has turned up depressingly little.
A world of thought
The history of philosophy outside the west can teach us much about the flaws in our own narratives, writes Julian Baggini.
We must acknowledge that the strict secularisation of philosophy is itself a philosophical position that requires justification. To simply stipulate that faith separates you from philosophy is as deeply unphilosophical as stipulating that a sacred text must have the last word.
The Q&A: Adam Rutherford
J.P. O'Malley talks to the geneticist, author and broadcaster about what separates us from animals.
"Over-simplistic explanations for things like love and art tend to deny the fact that we are a cultural species. Such explanations don’t take into account that we have loosened the shackles of natural selection, and do things that don’t appear to have direct intrinsic evolutionary benefit."
The winter 2018 issue of New Humanist is on sale now! Subscribe here for just £27 a year
Also in this issue:
- Charlotte L. Riley on Niall Ferguson's new book, which tries to bring data science to history
- David Berry investigates sexism in the upper echelons of mathematics
- As the west wages war on opiates, the rest of the world cries out for relief. Niki Seth-Smith reports
- Social turmoil in the UK is leading to a flourishing of the arts, writes Samira Ahmed
- Caroline Crampton on The Good Place, the sitcom that makes metaphysics entertaining
- Mike Makin-Waite explores the complicated relationship between communism and religion
- Mountain rescue groups are an inspiring example of human cooperation in action, writes James Poulter
- What a close observation of colobus monkeys can tell us about bullying and hierarchy among humans. By Dawn Starin
- Marcus Chown explains how solar flares could send us back to a pre-electrical age
- Columns from Michael Rosen and Laurie Taylor; the latest developments in biology, chemistry and physics; cartoon by Grizelda; book reviews; cryptic crossword and Chris Maslanka's quiz
New Humanist is published four times a year by the Rationalist Association, a 133 year-old charity promoting reason, science and secularism. Our journalism is fiercely independent and supported entirely by our readers. To make a deeper commitment, why not donate to the Rationalist Association?
