Human Origins Program Researcher Rick Potts has developed an idea called variability selection that hypothesizes that key events in human evolution were shaped not by habitat alone — some people think, for example, that walking upright evolved from the need to travel long distances in drier climates — but rather by environmental instability. Human ancestors may have responded to increased variability in their environment and habitat by developing coping mechanisms or characteristics that enabled them to survive.
Potts has examined this theory in the context of fossil records of early humans. He’s found that ancient hominins lived in a variety of habitats on multiple continents.
Today, humans are dealing increasingly with the very real effects of climate change, from rising sea levels, more frequent wildfires and more severe storms to periods of uncharacteristically hot and cold weather. In many ways, they’re dealing with the same challenges faced by their hominin ancestors: radically altered landscapes, unpredictable environmental conditions and ways of life that may no longer even exist.
Share this article
Against this backdrop, our brave new world will continue to test how flexible and adaptable the human species truly is and perhaps guide us toward the beginnings of an inevitable evolution to Homo futuris.
