Our species began roughly around 200,000 years ago but we were not the first human like creatures on the planet. Homo Habilis were making tools 2million years ago and Homo Heidelbergensis left shelters behind 700,000 years ago. There were at least 15 other human species that we know about and now they’re all gone. The last three surviving human species were Neanderthals who died about 30,000 years ago, Homo Floresisnsis who disappeared 12,000 years ago and us: Homo Sapiens. Large brained, organizers, thinkers, capable of abstraction, tribe building, estate building, empire building, capable of ending the world in a day, cable of saving the world in a day… we’ve survived barren lands, hostile climates, disease, droughts and famines.
In the last 10,000 years, an instant in our long history, we’ve abandoned the nomadic life. We’ve domesticated crops, animals, even managed to tame some of the most hostile places of the planet. The development of language allowed us to construct incredibly complex societies. If you can do language you can create myths, if you can create myths you can elevate the human experience to the level of a sacred and spiritual journey. The collective human propensity towards mythical stories shows an inextinguishable desire for finding meaning and purpose in a world not made for us.
We are the last of the humans and above all, we must protect life. All life on this planet.
Only time will tell if we’ll look at our current situation and agree that a big part of the problem was our inability to coexist with our environment. That encroachment on wildlife and rapid human expansion has put us all at risk. I don’t have a solution for any of these problems, that’s a task for people who are far more educated than me. I only hope that this isn’t the end of life as we know it, but the beginning of a new chapter in human history and hope is the last thing to die.
Rodrigo Albarran Art 