立場新聞:基因證據指早期人類曾自我馴化 變得攻擊性較低、合作性增強 Science — Early humans domesticated themselves, new genetic evidence suggests 立場這篇報道因為配圖出位,吸引不少朋友分享。不過本文不是要討論立場新聞最近大量使用誇張配圖吸引眼球的轉變,而純粹是因為在報道裏讀到科學家對人性的美好想像,引起自己一些感慨。 至於為甚麼人類最初可能被馴化,現時有大量假說解釋。 Wrangham 認同其中一個說法,即隨著早期人類形成更有合作性的社會,演化壓力傾向令人變成侵略性較低。 As for why humans might have become domesticated in the first place, hypotheses abound. Wrangham favors the idea that as early people formed cooperative societies, evolutionary pressures favored mates whose features were less “alpha,” or aggressive. “There was active selection, for the very first time, against the bullies and the genes that favored their aggression,” he adds. But so far, “Humans are the only species that have managed this.”