Letters to the Editor
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looking backwards
Aside from the whole "Neanderthals are animals" thing (which is really probably more controversial than the actual Globe article, when it comes to the ethics of humanity and the atrifical distinction we draw between ourselves and the rest of the 'animals' out there), I think both this blog and the premise of the article in the Globe suffer from a "using today to explain yesterday" mentality.
We're often guilty of looking for explinations to past events that fit into a continuous narrative with contemporary events. Some want to believe that Neanderthals went extinct because they didn't properly divide labour by gender lines, they were "feminists". Now, this is obviously one theory, which the article doesn't really do much, in my opinion, to back up with any empiricle data or similar case studies.
But hey, we're all interested in climate change as well -- maybe THAT really killed the Neanderthals! There's another backward looking theory that shapes itself based on contemporary concerns today. I'm not saying climate change or 'feminism' couldn't have killed off the Neanderthals, I'm just saying that maybe the reason we've come with those particular theories has more to do with what's going on in society NOW than an actual factual analysis.
As a climate change scientist, and they'll probably tell you climate change killed the Neanderthals. Ask a socilogist, and they might tell you it was a lack of gender division. Ask a creationist, and they'll tell you that God killed them off in the Great Flood... you see, it's all a bit relative. (ok, the Great Flood one isn't really... I just threw that in there for kicks).
Either way, this is the sort of 'scientific' study that the media laps up. I'm going to write a 'theory' about how the neanderthals were killed by space aliens. Maybe I can get something published in the Globe.