What’s Past is Prologue
Homo Sapiens evolved as one of many intelligent hominins. Then the others vanished and we have been alone for 50,000 years. Now, through the wonders of AI, we are about to be joined again by other intelligent beings. What lessons should we learn from our prehistory that will make this time go better for all of us?
During our evolutionary journey, we lived among other hominins that shared and competed for the same ecological niches. A Hominin is any member of the zoological group Hominini (family Hominidae, order Primates). We humans (Homo sapiens) are the only surviving hominins.
As hominin’s evolved, some of them (at least one of them, Homo sapiens) became:
- intelligent having the ability to process information, solve problems, and to pursue and accomplish complex goals.
- conscious meaning aware of their own internal and external existence and experiencing their own thoughts - “I think, therefore I am.”
- self-aware realizing that they themselves are a thinking being who is able to think about their own thoughts; metacognition.
Before Homo sapiens evolved as a distinct species, similar development must have been happening with our close relatives. We are still learning exactly how and when this happened, but it seems like the various species of hominins evolved separately, then…
