The Incredible Human Journey

Word-up to your mommas.

How are thee? Well, I hope. And so to begin....

As promised now follows a soliloquy on a fascinating programme I have been watching on BBC2, entitled, "The Incredible Human Journey", presented by Dr Alice Roberts. Now Dr Roberts is no ordinary presenter, she is a medical doctor, anthropologist and lecturer in anatomy at Bristol University. Not bad. Plus she also happens to be quite attractive, which always helps in keeping up my attention levels! Was reading some article in one of the broadsheets in which a male journalist recently described her as "swoon-inducing". Wouldn't necessarily go that far, but she definitely strikes me as down to Earth, as well as obviously being incredibly well informed and passionate about her subject matter. You could blatantly have a pint with said academic and chew the anthropological fat....

Anyway, enough about Alice (!). What I have been thoroughly enjoying is the way she has been presenting the "Out of Africa" theory which basically suggests that all modern humans descend from the same branch of people from Africa. It's not a new theory by any means, but it is still mind-blowing. And humbling. Whatever racial, religious and cultural differences between human-kind exist seem so insignificant at the thought that we all share the same ancestry that is probably only about 100,000 years old. Suck on that.

What I am finding particularly interesting is the way Dr Roberts charts the first Africans' migration out of Africa, through the Arabian peninsula, and then East into Asia Minor, and Asia at large. Very interestingly, a lot of the Chinese genuinely believe that they are actually an entirely different species, descended from Homo-Erectus. Apparently, Chinese kids are taught this at school, and led to believe that they are "special" (state propaganda anyone?). Not so sure. I definitely shared Dr Roberts' scepticism when confronting a top Chinese professor of Anthropology. Although his arguments were compelling, equipped with this amazingly intact "homo-erectus" skull he presented, I'm not so sure. You could see Dr Roberts' deference to an old distinguished academic, but also still her very definite scepticism. The way academia should be I guess. Though when she then met a thoroughly modern Genetics professor who had performed some incredibly detailed and thorough testing of this same theory (at The Chinese Academy of Sciences), all the evidence pointed to the fact the Chinese people do actually descend from Africa. Conclusive I thought. (Though I am biased towards modern science...).

All this reminded me of a book I read not long after I graduated in Neuroscience, entitled "The Blank Slate", written by Steven Pinker (legend). I think the title is fairly self-explanatory: are humans born with a blank slate? The book basically discusses nature vs nature and is fascinating. One thing I found particualrly interesting was Steven Pinker's list of human universals; those behaviour traits that are absolutely universal between all human beings. To be honest, as a young wide-eyed graduate, I found this staggering, and humbling. It makes you re-assess the futility of feuds, disputes and wars. And what really is the point of religion in this context? Surely it really is divisive.

Anyway, click here to see the list for anyone who might be interested.

I haven't got started on Dr Roberts' charting the progression of humans into Europe, and the explanations behind typical European facial characteristics, as well as why they became white. But to be honest, I can't recommend watching the programme yourself. It's perfect Sunday night fodder, on at 9pm on BBC2, so you can watch it whilst doing your ironing. Or whatever. Plus there's always iPlayer....

Back to music, that old chestnut. Well, I am currently on my third or fourth listen to Allez Allez's latest mix, by "Exercise One", who are this duo from Berlin who had some notable releases on K7! back in the day. The mix is certainly one of the best I have listened to in ages, taking in Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Aphex, Radiohead and Daft Punk. Very eclectic, and always fun. Not sure if they are Anglophiles, or whether the mix is a bit of a nod to the Brits, but I am loving it nonetheless. Anything which drops "Windowlicker" and "Unfinished Sympathy" has gotta be the shiz, in my humble opinion.

Off to a friends' engagement party somewhere in North London on Saturday, and really looking forward to it. A couple of mutual friends are DJing from about 11 til 3, but I have been asked to put together some "bar tunes" from 7 till 11pm. The Exercise One mix is definitely in there.

Until next time suckers.

Peace,

F.