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We are the stories we tell ourselves (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[-] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 42 points 5 months ago

The anthropologists got it wrong when they named our species Homo sapiens ('wise man'). In any case it's an arrogant and bigheaded thing to say, wisdom being one of our least evident features. In reality, we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee.

— Sir Terry Pratchett, The Globe (The Science of Discworld, #2), 2002

[-] Gloomy@mander.xyz 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Thanks, I had to think of this one too.

GNU Terry Pratchett

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

I always thought the "sapiens" came from "thinking", but I looked it up and it does come from wise! Homo cogitare would have meant thinking man.

[-] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago

I have to vehemently disagree on Pan; at most Australopithecus. narrans is a banger name though, i really like that.

this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
517 points (98.3% liked)

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