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Comment by cubefox | Hacker News Reader

I found this striking:

> The flute from Divje babe is the only one that was definitely made by Neanderthals. It is about 20,000 years older than other known flutes, made by anatomically modern humans.

Does this suggest that for some period of history, the Neanderthals were "technologically" ahead of Homo sapiens? At least in terms of flutes?

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Sir, we cannot allow a Flute Craft gap to develop.

I know this is astonishing, should be adjusting my world view on my own species ... but "no fighting in the WarRoom"

The age doesn't mean it was definitely made by Neandertals. It could have been acquired from other Homos.

As I understand it, the ancient humanoid species had distinct ways of making tools, so maybe technique and tool mark would give away the maker?

hard to argue “more technical”, but at a similar level. they weaved clothes, spoke language, built dwelllings, made art and interbred with us. they are part of us to this day.

Its not spoken about openly, but there is a decent correlation between % of DNA from neanderthals and IQ

Do you have some reference? (I know that they had a larger brain. But if they were more intelligent, why did they go extinct?)

I'm 2.3% Neanderthal.

We're not extinct. We merged.

Another aspect, is theres no telling how much that 2.3% matters. Not all strands of DNA have the same effect on how someone turns out

2.3% doesn't reflect what i'd call a merge..

So do you only merge your code when you've edited more then 50% of your lines?

Unless neanderthals were 2.3% of the population at the time they merged.

or, the populations were 50/50 and the humans were like, "let's bone the hottest 95.6% of neanderthals and kill the rest"

Other way round

I originally wrote the joke the other way round. When I switched the order I forgot to change the number back.

That's all for today's episode of Inside the Joke

Who approved the PR?

Over specialization perhaps. High calorie diet and starvation? Harder to cope in a warming environment?

They are not really exctinct, they are part of our ancestry, at least in most of Europe and those who migrated from Europe. One possibility is that when Sapiens met Neanderthal they simply outnumbered them because they came from more fertile/hospitable lands. Like Google acquiring an older but smaller company.

larger brain does not always mean smarter.

I believe that all evidence points says that it helps.

even people with hydrocephaly? Neanderthals , although similar to modern homo sapiens, are not the same.

I don't think it's useful to consider a rare (0.2%) neurological disorder in this discussion, unless you're suggesting that Neanderthals had voids in their brain matter. This would be an extraordinary claim, being unlike any other primate or mammal.

For humans, bigger is almost always better.

Off the top of my head, disease, in-fighting, or some other missing adaptation that made them less able to flourish and reproduce in as-high numbers.

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