We, the Last Humans

A Triumph Born of Fear and Curiosity

Part I: The Unspoken Truth of Our Conquest

We humans, in our present form, stand as the lone survivors of a once-diverse landscape of hominids—our cousins, now lost to the shadows of history. Of these vanished branches, fossil records confirm at least five distinct species—Homo neanderthalensis, Homo denisova, Homo floresiensis, Homo erectus, and Homo heidelbergensis. They lived, breathed, innovated, and dreamed, but they succumbed, each in turn, to our peculiar combination of aggression, ingenuity, fear, and irresistible curiosity. We did not merely survive; we conquered. We seized their territories, appropriated their inventions, absorbed their genes through interbreeding, and systematically erased their distinct identities from history.

Yet, beneath our ruthless veneer lies complexity—an intricate weave of fear and fascination, selfishness and compassion, violence and kindness. To understand humanity’s ascension as the sole surviving hominid is to recognize that our power and dominance came at a grave cost, rooted paradoxically in both primal terror and limitless curiosity.

This essay explores humanity’s brutal rise, investigates our contradictory nature, and reveals how the very instincts we criticize—our fear, our greed, our cruelty—also crafted the most resilient, adaptive species Earth has known.

Part II: Hominid Rivals—Mirrors We Feared

To grasp why humans rose victorious requires appreciating those who fell. Our evolutionary cousins were remarkably similar to us. The Neanderthals were robust, intelligent, culturally sophisticated beings with technology comparable—and occasionally superior—to our own. Their skills in crafting stone tools, controlling fire, and ceremonial burial of their dead imply complex societal structures and emotional depth.

Denisovans, though less understood, exhibited sophisticated adaptations to harsh environments. Their artifacts, scattered across remote Siberian caves, bear testament to their inventive spirit. Meanwhile, the diminutive Homo floresiensis, discovered in Indonesia, displayed remarkable adaptations to isolated island life, crafting miniature tools tailored to their limited resources.

These species were distinctly human-like—close enough to trigger in our ancestors the deepest psychological fears: fears of replacement, competition, and existential threat. We encountered beings who were too familiar to dismiss as mere beasts, yet too foreign to embrace as kin. They embodied the unsettling territory between sameness and otherness—a territory we dread instinctively. Our collective psyche recoils from things that mirror us yet differ enough to become uncanny. In these rivals, we saw distorted reflections of ourselves, triggering primal insecurities and territorial aggression that ultimately fueled our conquest.

Part III: Fear, Curiosity, and the Need to Dominate

Humans, by nature, are creatures driven by paradox. We dread the unknown yet endlessly pursue it. Our success lies precisely in this contradictory duality: we wage wars out of fear, yet wars lead us to exploration, innovation, and cultural exchange. In our interactions with other hominids, fear compelled us toward conflict, while curiosity encouraged us to adopt their tools, cultures, and genetic traits.

Neanderthal DNA, present in modern Eurasian populations, illustrates this vividly. Interbreeding was not merely opportunistic, but strategic. Genetic exchange strengthened immunity, adaptability, and resilience, proving advantageous in our evolutionary arms race. Our ancestors sought dominance, yet paradoxically depended on interbreeding for survival. This behavior reflects humanity’s unending dialectic: we exploit even those we fear, transforming perceived threats into opportunities for growth and adaptation.

Our innate curiosity drove humans not only to take from other hominids but to refine their knowledge into innovations uniquely ours. Human mastery of tools, language, symbolism, and culture evolved rapidly due to continuous conflict and cooperation with hominid rivals. Each encounter sharpened our adaptability, creativity, and cunning. Our ancestors’ initial fear became our greatest advantage, sparking resourcefulness that drove human supremacy.

Part IV: Humanity’s Selfishness and Altruism—Two Faces of Survival

To dominate other hominids, our species exercised remarkable selfishness. Resources—food, shelter, territory—were zealously guarded and violently defended. Anthropologists widely agree warfare existed long before civilization: skeletal remains bearing lethal injuries from ancient human sites vividly attest to the widespread nature of early violence and territorial disputes.

Yet human selfishness alone cannot fully account for our success. Our survival equally relied upon altruism and cooperation within our groups. Humans excel at forming complex social bonds—families, tribes, clans—united by mutual support. These bonds provided security, emotional resilience, and cultural stability, which other hominids struggled to maintain at scale. We shared resources within our group, sacrificing immediate personal gain for collective benefit. This paradoxical coexistence of fierce selfishness towards outsiders and profound altruism toward insiders elevated human societies above competing hominids, whose social cohesion was less robust or adaptable.

Part V: Adapting Their Innovations—The Human Advantage

Historically, conquerors appropriate technologies from the conquered, and human evolution exemplifies this truth dramatically. Consider fire. Initially harnessed by early hominids like Homo erectus nearly a million years ago, fire was crucial for warmth, protection, cooking, and social bonding. Yet humans elevated its use further, developing sophisticated hearths, forges, and eventually metallurgy.

Similarly, stone tool technology flourished under Neanderthals, whose craftsmanship was intricate and adaptive. When early Homo sapiens encountered these tools, they did not hesitate to adopt and refine them, eventually surpassing Neanderthal designs in efficiency and variety. By absorbing and improving upon the technologies of other hominids, humans rapidly climbed technological ladders. Our willingness—even eagerness—to appropriate ideas gave us unmatched versatility and resilience.

Part VI: Genetic Legacy—Breeding and Assimilation

Interbreeding with other hominids profoundly reshaped modern humanity. Approximately 2-4% of DNA in modern non-Africans derives from Neanderthals, influencing our immunity, metabolism, skin pigmentation, and even susceptibility to disease. Denisovan genes similarly enriched genetic diversity, particularly among Pacific Islanders and Tibetans, facilitating high-altitude adaptations and enhanced resistance to pathogens.

Though these interbreeding events may have arisen from conflict or dominance, they undeniably strengthened the human genome, giving our species remarkable adaptability. By merging genetic heritage, our ancestors gained beneficial traits essential for survival in diverse and changing environments. This genetic assimilation process was both pragmatic and ruthless—a calculated evolutionary strategy highlighting human adaptability.

Part VII: Humanity’s Ambivalence Toward the Alien

We remain today conflicted about encountering near-human entities, precisely because they remind us of our primal struggle. Literature, folklore, and myth continually explore human anxiety toward beings almost—but not quite—like us. Our collective imagination remains obsessed with aliens, artificial intelligences, and fantastical creatures. These imagined entities symbolize our unresolved fears of being replaced or overtaken by beings we find disturbingly similar yet undeniably alien.

Still, our obsession also betrays fascination. We long to discover life beyond ourselves precisely because it would challenge our self-conception, expand our knowledge, and test our adaptability once more. The same impulses—fear and curiosity—that drove ancient humans to overcome hominid rivals motivate our present-day exploration of the unknown. Our species thrives on the tension between dread and wonder, exploiting contradictions to push continually forward.

Part VIII: Embracing Our Complexity

Humanity’s contradictions—the violent conqueror who dreams of peace, the fearful creature who loves exploration, the selfish individual who sacrifices for family—define us. We lament our brutality yet celebrate our victories; we regret our selfishness yet praise our ingenuity. This complexity is not accidental—it is the key to human success.

To reject humanity’s shadowy past is to misunderstand ourselves fundamentally. We did terrible things to achieve survival, but survival itself is morally ambivalent—neither good nor evil, merely the relentless mechanism of life. Nature does not privilege morality, only effectiveness. Our ancestors survived because they were effective—at war, adaptation, appropriation, and innovation.

Humanity—Conqueror and Creator

We alone remain standing because we embody contradiction and complexity. Our species succeeded through ruthless domination yet benefitted immensely from genetic and cultural intermingling. We fear difference yet adapt and incorporate foreign elements. We are selfish yet sacrifice profoundly for kin and community. Above all, we are curious—endlessly seeking new horizons even at profound risk.

Our past illustrates a brutal, remarkable journey: fear drove us to confront rivals, curiosity led us to learn from them, and adaptability transformed conflict into advancement. We should neither glorify nor deny our violent origins, but rather acknowledge them fully as the foundation upon which our uniquely adaptable, resilient, and infinitely curious species stands.

In this balance between darkness and brilliance, we became fully human. That paradox—conquerors who inherited, destroyers who preserved, ruthless beings who create—defines humanity. And indeed, that is amazing.

By Noel | Fowklaw

References

Hominid Evolution & Extinction:

1. Harari, Y. N. (2015). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. HarperCollins.

• Explores the rise of Homo sapiens and their interactions with other hominids.

2. Tattersall, I. (2019). Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Discusses hominid diversity and reasons for their disappearance.

3. Stringer, C. (2012). Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth. Times Books.

• Comprehensive exploration of why Homo sapiens outlived other human species.

Genetic and Archaeological Evidence of Interbreeding:

4. Green, R. E., et al. (2010). “A Draft Sequence of the Neanderthals Genome.” Science, 328(5979), 710–722. DOI: 10.1126/science.1188021

• Groundbreaking study confirming Neanderthal genetic contribution to modern humans.

5. Reich, D. (2018). Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past. Pantheon Books.

• Detailed analysis of how interbreeding shaped human genetics.

6. Prüfer, K., et al. (2014). “The Complete Genome Sequence of a Neanderthal from the Altai Mountains.” Nature, 505(7481), 43–49. DOI: 10.1038/nature12886

• Important genetic data clarifying the nature and extent of human-Neanderthal interbreeding.

7. Slon, V., et al. (2018). “The genome of the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.” Nature, 561(7721), 113–116. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0455-x

• Evidence of interbreeding between Denisovans and Neanderthals.

Hominid Technological Innovation & Appropriation:

8. Roebroeks, W., & Villa, P. (2011). “On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(13), 5209–5214. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1018116108

• Reviews evidence for controlled fire use among early hominids.

9. Villa, P., & Soriano, S. (2010). “Hunting weapons of Neanderthals and early modern humans in South Africa.” Journal of Anthropological Research, 66(1), 5–38. DOI: 10.3998/jar.0521004.0066.102

• Comparative study of tool-making abilities of Neanderthals versus early modern humans.

10. Wadley, L. (2013). “Recognizing Complex Cognition through Innovative Technology in Stone Age and Paleolithic Sites.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 23(2), 163–183. DOI: 10.1017/S0959774313000309

• Discusses the evolution and complexity of early human technologies.

Human Psychology and Fear of the ‘Other’:

11. Freud, S. (1919/1955). “The Uncanny.” In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 17, pp. 217–256). Hogarth Press.

• Foundational theory regarding humanity’s psychological response to near-human entities.

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• Explores human psychological reactions, including fear, anxiety, and aggression towards the unfamiliar.

13. Boyer, P., & Bergstrom, B. (2008). “Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion.” Annual Review of Anthropology, 37, 111–130. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.37.081407.085201

• Discusses evolutionary roots of human fear, superstition, and cultural responses to differences.

Human Altruism and Cooperation:

14. Wilson, E. O. (2012). The Social Conquest of Earth. Liveright Publishing.

• Insightful examination of altruism and cooperation as critical evolutionary advantages.

15. Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (2011). A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution. Princeton University Press.

• Analyzes how cooperative behavior contributed significantly to human evolutionary success.

Human Curiosity and Adaptability:

16. Fuentes, A. (2017). The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional. Dutton.

• Exploration of human curiosity, creativity, and adaptability as evolutionary advantages.

17. Tomasello, M. (2019). Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny. Harvard University Press.

• Argues how human curiosity and cooperative cognition distinguish humans from other primates and hominids.

Synthesis of Human Contradictions:

18. Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Norton & Company.

• Classic text detailing how aggressive expansion, technology appropriation, and environmental factors shaped human history.

19. Pinker, S. (2011). The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Penguin Books.

• Discusses the duality of human nature, from violent origins to altruistic societies.

20. Mithen, S. (2005). The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body. Harvard University Press.

• Examines cognitive and cultural dimensions of hominid evolution, highlighting the shared yet distinct capacities of early human species.