Why people are the way they are.

Humans are amazing adaptors, we can change and survive in the most unlikely of scenarios. From cold to hot, high to low, wet to dry, we can adapt for a short time, or even a long time if we need to live. Heat is one great example of something Humans need to adapt to. More humans die from heat than cold every year, why? because heat can cause the body to overdo it and shut down. Humans adapt to this stress in several ways, by sweating, by releasing heat through the head and appendages, by slowing systems down, and craving salt. Peoples whole body structure can change to adapt to hot environments, for example, the long lean bodies of people in Africa are far better at expelling heat than the squat bodies of people in Antarctica. Because of this we should understand that we should not judge people on how they look because often there is a reason why. People in different parts of the world look different for a reason, a very good reason that has to do with their environment, studying these reasons helps us understand people better.

Language

Language is one of the most critical parts of civilizations, the average person says 16,000 words a day. We communicate and express ourselves, who we are and what we want through words and speech. What if this was taken away from us? What if we had no words, no way of writing, not even hand motions? I tried this for fifteen minutes and utterly failed. The normal patterns of conversation, questions and answers, stories and laughter were lost and I discovered nearly nothing new about the person I was speaking to. My impressions of the person I was speaking to, my younger (but not little) brother was that he was even more hilarious than I though, his ridiculous pointing and blinking and facial expressions succumbed us to laughter in minutes, he is always funny but he altered his personality from outgoing to outrageous to fit the conversation. If I was not related to him and knew his though processes, say if he was from a different culture entirely, instead of from my family, I imagine that the conversation would go entirely different we probably still would of brought each other to laughter with the way we were acting. We have one of the most complex languages yet so I imagine that someone from a different culture would have a hard time keeping up. Also those who have a disability that inhibits them from understanding language would have a hard time realizing what was trying to be said.

Next I was asked to spend 15 minutes conversing without physical embellishments, this was hard, but not as hard for me. I was able to do it, but I am extremely flamboyant with my facial expressions and hands when I talk, especially when I get excited, so is my brother. We were affected by these limitations by how hard it was to express what you were feeling or how it made us feel. It is hard to tell whether you are happy or sad about a sentence if there is no expression behind it. This shows how critical signs are in our language, we need expression to show what we mean with our words. Many people with autism or other social impairments have a hard time with social cues and would probably have a hard time picking up on these things. Language is a critical part of our culture, beyond the speaking and writing the social cues behind them are also critical. These experiments really expressed this to me.

Piltdown Hoax

The Piltdown Hoax began when Charles Dawson received a fraction of a scull said to be found at the Piltdown Gravel pit in East Sussex, England in December of 1912. He and Arthur Smith Woodward began to uncover the site but Dawson only found more pieces on his own. The scull found had most pieces including a jaw bone, it seemed to be very similar to a human scull but with several differences, it was thought to be the missing link between humans and apes. This find was accepted easily by the public, and though somewhat questioned by the scientific community, Dawsons respected reputation caused very few, if no one to straight up question it. Therefore it stood, the answer to the question of the missing link. For forty years it stood as the answer, until, after Dawsons death, when others were finally able to see the evidence up close and it was discovered that the find was really a combination of a human scull from the medieval era, the jaw of an orangutang and some fossilized ape teeth, all that had been stained to match, and the teeth had been shaped to fit. In other words, it was a false, a hoax, created to bring fame to Dawsons name, or for the country of England. In this case mans desire for glory or recognition got in the way of true science and set the community forty years back. However what was learned from this hoax is invaluable. It is now widely understood how critical it is to have peer evaluation and feedback, and to not take anything at face value, no matter the name behind it. So even though we can not remove man from the picture, we can lessen the margin for error by checking and rechecking against peer information. Something we can all learn from this scam is to never just swallow what people are telling us, but to research for ourselves. Especially in this era of information overload.