Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

For 238,000 of the last 250,000 years, we all had ancestors
who lived the same sort of Stone Age life, hunting and foraging
in small groups. Only the last 12,000 years have been different
and have seen the development of agriculture, metallurgy,
antibiotics, and so on.
In evolutionary terms, 12,000 years is the blink of an eye. If we
is only 600 to 800 generations—not nearly enough time to
result in substantial changes. But the preceding 238,000 years
encompassed 12,000 to 18,000 generations, all experiencing
the same way of life and the same selection pressures. That
could be enough time to develop neurological features that
would then be shared by all their progeny—us.
For these reasons, the advocates of evolutionary psychology
contend that we have inherited parts of our mind shaped by the
evolutionary pressures felt by our Stone Age ancestors.
Many of us associate the terms Stone Age and with being
primitive and lacking intelligence, but our ancestors were actually
quite like us. They were as clever and resourceful as we are, but
they lived in an environment and historical context that forced them
to start from a rougher place.
Evolutionary psychologists argue that the sustained, consistent
environmental stresses on our ancestors would have led to
adaptations. Some of those would be advantageous and, over
the 238,000-year period, would have made their way into the
population. Some foundational aspects of our psychology are the
remnants of what they went through.
Our Stone Age ancestors adapted quite well to numerous challenges,
such as giving birth, winning social support from band members,
hitting game animals with projectiles, and many more. Evolutionary
psychologists contend that any behaviors that are uniquely well
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