They say modern humans appeared about 300 thousand years ago. I understand why we say it this way, and it sort of makes sense, but I don't fully understand what it must have been like. I was taught when first studying biology that most everything is a species, and each species is defined mostly by the fact that it can only viably reproduce with itself. This gives you a handy tool to decide if those two finches that look similar are actually the same species, if they can make a non-sterile offspring, then they are probably the same species. The classic example of something which violates this rule is the offspring of a horse and a donkey, a mule, which is sterile and therefore not either it's own thing, nor proof that horses and donkeys are the same species. As you start to learn more about animals and evolution and things it becomes pretty obvious that this definition is sort of a hazy rule of thumb that only applies sometimes and is actually only useful for b...
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