We are told, “the Hall of Human Origins continues the dark tradition of Darwinian views about humanity”:
Entering the Hall of Human Origins, the viewer is greeted by a panorama of species becoming more “white” as they evolve. One exception is the Hobbit of Indonesia (Homo floresiensis) which is portrayed as exceptionally dark. This selective focus ignores the many blunders and hoaxes of paleoanthropology (Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man, Ida) and the less credible fossils (Ardipithecus, Orrorin). Nor does the exhibit mention the continual changes of opinion about early man that appear frequently in the media (e.g., New Scientist, Phys.org). Instead, visitors are treated to a single line of descent mimicking the discredited “march of man” icon that keeps popping up in cartoons. Real paleontologists admit a reticulate pattern where it’s not at all clear who is ancestral to whom. This complexity is ignored.
Inside the Hall of Human Origins, these same six specimens are portrayed on a path to whiteness. Visitors seem to accept this portrayal without rioting because, after all, this is “science.” Note that skin colors, hair, and nose shapes are not preserved with bones.
News, “Evolution Theater: Smithsonian Whitewashes Human Origins” at Evolution News and Science Today (November 24, 2021)
Some of us wondered when someone would get around to noticing the gradual Darwinian bleaching during the Ascent of Man… Because, with fossils, the complexion stuff is all imaginary anyway, it should be comparatively easy to fix.
But here’s another ball dropped that might not be so easy to fix:
The poster about language fails to engage the serious philosophical problem of abstract reasoning that makes humans exceptional. That question is deflected by asking, “When Did Humans Start Talking?” as if the evolutionary emergence of language can just be assumed. “Scientists are not sure,” the caption reads, then speculates that complex behaviors “probably required language” — another instance of the fallacy that needs cause design. If that were true, crows should have been writing operas and lions books on philosophy long before now. They had much more time to grow bigger brains and face challenges than humans allegedly did. Or does Darwinism only work its magic on humans and not on other species?
News, “Evolution Theater: Smithsonian Whitewashes Human Origins” at Evolution News and Science Today (November 24, 2021)
Many in science would far rather believe that consciousness is just an illusion to be explained way, even if the results are bizarre. Questioning naturalism is a grave offence there. The problem can’t be resolved just by cosmetic work on the fossils.
Great photos at the link.
You may also wish to read: A picture gallery of a visit to the Smithsonian makes clear: All Darwin all the time. This is hagiography, to be sure. But do the hagiographers know what time it is? Even now, Darwin’s bulldog Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) is threatened with Cancellation.