Comments on: Why the Hobbits of Flores Were Probably Not Broken People

By: Romeo Vitelli

Romeo Vitelli — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:14:37 +0000

The problem here is that all you have are implausible hypotheses to explain the Flores findings. On the face of it, a tribe of hunter-gatherer cretins doesn’t seem any less difficult to swallow than a tribe of tiny homo erectus hominids surviving into historical times. Either way, it seems unbelievable.

By: afarensis, FCD

afarensis, FCD — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:45:23 +0000

You raise a really good point. It sounds to me like the authors were channeling Richard Lee when they brought up the hunter-gatherer stuff. I think had there been any cretins on Flores they would have rapidly become Komodo dragon food…

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:49:01 +0000

Iain,Those are all good questions. My point resonates with one of yours, in the sense that foragers are typically inaccurately objectified as models.Regarding who found what and why that matters: This is a case, it would appear, where the process has been marred by odd events. Am I wrong about that? This is not to say that a big American research university would have averted various shenanigans.As you know, I have a number of Australian connections, and you don’t see me disparaging Australian research or research teams. But Australians have earned whining rights (if you will) to the extent that Australian researchers and institutions are treated as third world anomalies, maybe even as quaint versions of real researchers and institutions. Similarly, this is somewhat true of South Africa.Many of the major research areas (that would be analogous to Flores in importance, in having one or more productive localities, and international research teams) in hominid palaeoanthropology have big problems of personality, respect, infighting, etc. and in the end, I don’t think Flores stands out as especially odd. (Cf The Afar Triangle, the Republic of Georgia, Olduvai, and on and on).

By: Iain Davidson

Iain Davidson — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:02:13 +0000

Can cretins make stone tools? Tempting to say they can write papers, so they should be able to make stone tools.I wonder why people get so heated about this? That becomes almost as interesting as why all people have stories about non standard others who are difficult to see just beyond the limits of their own society.I also wonder whether there would be so much sniping about this if the finds had been made by a large American University Department, rather than an Indonesian-Australian team where the Australians are at a very small Department? (which I also belong to)

By: Dan S.

Dan S. — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:33:40 +0000

‘Leprechauns were actually endemic cretins, scientists report – story at 11!'”This is Virchow’s pathological neandertal all over again.“+200 if you manage to use this in casual RL conversation . . … . . . nobody ever expects Virchow’s pathological neandertal?Britney Spears cover: Oops, I-o-dine it again . . .

By: Colugo

Colugo — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:30:02 +0000

You’re right; a population of hunter-gatherer cretins is implausible. This is Virchow’s pathological neandertal all over again.

By: Eamon Knight

Eamon Knight — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:26:53 +0000

What if I told you about a major corporation that was run entirely by people with Down Syndrome, severe Autism, with a board of directors entirely comprised of advanced Alzheimer patients.Oh! Oh! I know! The Republican Party?Seriously, this association of hypothyroidism with primitive characters (assuming they've got that part right) raises a question for (non-expert) me: Does it hint at part of the reason for the differences between us and H. erectus? IOW, could the transition from erectus to sapiens have involved an increase in thyroid hormone production, or the way the developing body responds to it? (No doubt along with other changes, of course)

By: J-Dog

J-Dog — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:28:42 +0000

I think you are exactly right.Plus, if it weren’t for Frodo and Sam, Middle Earth would have been doomed.(Although Frodo falling for Gollums’ “Crumbs On Sam’s Cloak Trick” doesn’t point to Frodo being the smartest Hobbit on the branch, IMO.)It appears to me that the authors of the paper are nothing but jealous Orcs, or are themselves, myxoedematous endemic cretins.