It’s no question that we humans are at the top of the food chain. Every trait had a purpose in our survival and excellence among the other mammals. It’s easy to understand how virtues like courage, sense of community and the ability to work in groups helped us survive as species. But what about bad traits like gossip, fear of judgment, and xenophobia? Of what value were they to our evolution?
To see the virtue in our vice, we have to understand that our 7 million years journey from a chimp-like mammal to what we are was no walk in a park. Every trait we have now has helped to keep us alive. This includes gossip, fear of judgment, and xenophobia. And to grasp that, I’ll have to take you back to 7 million years ago, and it will all make sense.
Picturing that I share a common ancestor with today’s chimps is a challenging undertake, especially as I’m staring at my cellphone.
Our common ancestors lived in the African rain forest for millions of years. They were the kings of the forest. It seemed that all the odds were in our favor. Predators stood no chance against us as long as we lived on trees.
Now that I don’t live on a tree, I can’t help but wonder what happened. Why did we leave heaven?
7 million years ago, the rain forest on the east side of Africa began to dry up due to plate tectonics. Food became scarce. It was no longer abundant heaven. Around that time, we wished our chimp-to-be cousins farewell and decided to take on a big leap and ventured onto the land. Then, our story began.
On land, we descended to the bottom of the food chain. We went from kings of the trees to clumsy prey on land. Mere survival was never so challenging. We became an easy dinner for most predators. Most of our kind were hunted and almost went extinct. Almost!
2.5 million years later, something big happened. Something that saved what remained of us. We could walk upright. We became Australopithecus!
Walking upright was the right mutation at the right time. This could have happened many times before. This time, however, it’s a huge advantage compared to any time before.
For our rain forest ancestors, walking upright would have only been a disadvantage. With this malformation, propagating their genes would have been impossible.
On land, nonetheless, walking upright had worked wonders. We could finally defend ourselves. We worked in groups, and with free hands, we could throw rocks at a distance and fight off predators. For this to work, however, we had to work together. Those who didn’t cooperate aren’t here to tell the tale.
2.5 million years later (2 million years ago), we, Homo erectus, claimed the throne and ascended back to the top of the food chain once and for all. With 950g brains, we could plan for the future, devise weapons, and build communities. And here’s how bad traits helped us survive:
Why do we gossip?
On the trees might make right. Now, however, the game has changed. We could talk and we used gossip to protect ourselves. We could conspire even against our fiercest peers if they didn’t behave according to the benefits of the group, and they wouldn’t stand a chance against the group. This technology (Gossip) kept individuals and communities in line.
Almost all of us know how terrifying speaking in public can be. Our heart rate spikes, our palms sweat and we can barely talk. It seems like we’re reacting to a life or death situation, but we know it’s not. The worst that can happen is they laugh at us, but we’ll survive.
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