Ineluctably us: early hominid discoveries, mass media, and the reification of human ancestors

Human, almost human: how many human species are there?

“…Becoming "human" appears as a trend within the human lineage, a telos that must be attained, as if evolution had culminated in the appearance of sapiens (Gundling, 2020).…”

“…Here again we notice that the anthropomorphic ape is not only "almosthuman", but is, in Darwin's words (1871), "semi-human": perceived as a "half-way" stage in a series culminating in the emergence of the human. "Almost-human" also suggests the possibility of failure, of unsuccessful twigs on the Tree of Life, but, more radically, a view of primates as an unfulfilled promise (a point well evinced in Gundling, 2020).…”