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The path of human evolution has been anything but a straight line from past to present. Much like a growing tree or a flowing river, branches and tributaries appear off the main trunk and either thrive, or taper off and peter out. When the game is survival of the species, evolutionary adaptations are mercilessly judged by nature, red in tooth and claw.

Evolution is also punctual in character. Change is often sudden, provoked by a beneficial mutation or a rapid change in the environment. When we look at the human family tree, all of the aforementioned trends can be seen. Neanderthal Man appears, thrives for a time in the glaciated terrain of prehistoric Europe, then fades out just as modern man appears on the scene. Further back in time, a plant-eating hominid called Australopithecus Boisei branched out from the main Australopithecine line. Robust in frame with huge teeth and mighty jaws, A. Boisei was perfectly adapted for lush, tropical conditions with abundant flora... until the climate changed and the flora died off. The gentle giants did likewise.

Specialized adaptations like the Neanderthal's ruggedness and A.Boisei's plant-eating were exceptions to the general trend of human evolution - that being an increase in brain size and a corresponding reduction in jaw size. This trend is coded in our genes, but is still subject to the influences of environment and mutation. This brings us to a group of skulls and skeletal remains found in the early years of the 20th century, in a part of South Africa known as Boskop. Could it be that in this isolated African backwater, a genetic mutation appeared that jumped human evolution ahead... not just by a page or two, but by several chapters?






One might think that a brainier, presumably smarter human population would make mincemeat out the local carnivores while out-competing any "normal" Homo Sapiens who ventured into their territory. Not necessarily. A sudden shift towards a futuristic physiognomy - without the accompanying societal, mechanical and technological framework needed to support it - would have left the Boskopoids much like babes in the woods. Balancing oversized heads on slim, gracile bodies, they would be at a pronounced disadvantage when running down prey - or running away from predators.

A scientific analysis of the Boskop fossils, "Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence," was recently published by Gary Lynch and Richard Granger, neuroscientists from the Dartmouth Brain Engineering Laboratory. A more poetic reflection on Boskop Man entitled "Man of the Future" was written in 1958 by science writer Loren Eiseley as a chapter of his larger volume, "The Immense Journey". It makes for intriguing reading, as the following excerpt indicates:

"The man of the future came, and looked out among us once with wistful, if unsophisticated eyes. He left his bones in the rubble of an alien land. If we read evolution aright, he may come again in another million years."

Was Boskop Man, a man out of time... stranded in a rough, predatory world without the tools needed to master it. Or is there another possibility, one which demands you open your mind to things that fly in the face of what we've so far taken for granted.

What if the Boskopoids not only survived, but thrived? What if they used their advanced intelligence to "leave the cradle", as it were. Where would they go? Well, the universe is a big place. If they left Earth for bigger and better things, one might assume they would leave as little trace of themselves as possible out of respect for their more primitive yet upcoming cousins - us.

All right, if you've taken this leap of faith, consider what it means and where it leads. Boskop Man suddenly appeared, used his big brain and superior intelligence to create a technology so advanced that it allowed them to leave the Earth entirely, but... would they forget the place of their birth so easily? Consider what a Boskopoid would look like: huge, rounded heads, big wide eyes set into small, child-like faces - sound familiar? To paraphrase FDR, "we have met the aliens, and they are us!"

I will admit, the curious combination of facts and speculation in this article read like something out of a sci-fi fantasy. It's much more likely that the remains of Boskop Man represent only a few members of prehistoric modern Homo Sapiens whose cranial capacities are at the far upward limits of the average. However - stranger things have happened and the current level of our archeological knowledge is by no means the be all and end all. The recent discovery of tiny "hobbit" humans on the Indonesian island of Flores is a perfect example. So keep an open mind, and remember... nothing is impossible, only improbable.

Article by Steve Levenstein from Inventor Spot. Submit your thoughts - click here!

Polygamy, on the other hand, is when a woman or man is married to more than one spouse. Polygamy is a term which is most often used when describing how a man is married to more than one woman. This description is incorrect because the concept of polygamy means a situation where either a man or woman is married to more than one spouse. The situation where the man or woman is married to more than one spouse can be sorted into different sociological categories and concepts. These include how a man can be married to more than one woman (polygyny) and how a woman can be married to more than one man (polyandry).

Polyandry in human relationships occurs or has occurred in Tibet, the Canadian Arctic, Zanskar, Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, the Nymba, and Sri Lanka, and is known to have been present in some pre-contact Polynesian societies, though probably only among higher caste women. It is also encountered in some regions of Mongolia, among the Mosuo people in China, and in some Sub-Saharan African and American indigenous communities. In other societies, there are people who live in de facto polyandrous arrangements that are not recognized by the law .

Sociologist Hilmi Ziya Ülken made the following statements about the prevalence of polygamy and monogamy;

"Male dominance since the evolution of primitive societies and his first class distinction being his gender distinction have meant that the single husband framework has proved its sovereignty. However in some places, distinctive economic circumstances and in other places, certain historical periods, have all brought about a framework of marrying many husbands. This is apparent in the Fratri region of Australia."

Although historically many societies witness single husband marriages, many women have married more than one man due to the geographical conditions and economic problems. For example; When there was limited land for usage in Tibet, a group of brothers all married the same woman. By marrying the same woman they were able to produce fewer children and avoid a split in their future inheritance. Consequently they were able to establish financial security to a certain degree.

Aneta was 17 when her ordeal began. She was promised a job as an au pair to an affluent family when she decided to leave her Czech village and cross borders. She was recruited by Petr, a handsome man who promised that she would travel with them to London or even America. "You'll get to practice your English," he joked. The next day Aneta joined ten other local girls who handed over their passports and followed Petr into a life of ruins and defilement. Hours later instead of being welcomed by smiling families, they were greeted by a group of burly men who possessed guns and savage dogs. The girls, some of them as young as 14, were then forced into a room, stripped naked and pushed into a line. The men moved up and down, along the line and handled the girls roughly. They inspected their teeth, breasts and the areas between their legs. “We were just horseflesh” Aneta recalled. Each girl was flung across the room and gang raped. Within the next few days all of them were smuggled across Europe to work in brothels.

In May 2005 the gendarme in Yaounde scattered a prostitution ring that had recruited young boys who were claimed to be there for soccer training. The boys were promised the opportunity to play in prestigious clubs across Europe but ended up sported into child prostitution. From the five members of the organization (composing of five members), three were caught and the other two went into hiding.

In Singapore an increasing number of girls offer sexual intercourse upon Internet chat-rooms. Although the situation is less dire than in Japan, social workers cite cases of girls as young as 13 having no qualms over substituting paid sex for household pocket money.

In generic terms child prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration, including food, housing, drugs or other commodities or intangibles such as approval or care. It is an ancient and global problem. Child prostitution can be found in both developed and developing countries. Be it voluntary or coercive, the rise of child prostitution shows a reflection of how society’s morals have degenerated and how the possession of money, authority or power can be abused to cause destruction.

It is almost impossible to stem out this societal problem because of an overlap of certain factors and other discrepancies. Voluntary willingness from children to exchange sex for tangible benefits, reflect a society where the sanctity of the physical intimacy has been torn apart by our very own assets. On the other hand menacing behavior on part of the perpetrators, expose the degradation of society’s morality.

We can only hope that stricter governmental protection can be implemented for children, so that they are educated and hence protected from devious individuals. In a world increasingly being defined by power, authority and money, any excesses will just spark the beginnings of a collapse in morals.

So, what was the most awful experience you had when you were 10 years old?

The idea is this. We probably all know the concept of "six degrees of separation"; Which refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth.

If we assume this concept is true then this has implications on business relations as well. Now, let's combine this concept with the pyramid scheme where every individual has a network of up to 6 levels and every individual is on top of "their" pyramid. However, unlike the pyramid scheme where no product or service is being delivered; individuals in this combined concept sell their own goods, services or talents.. etc. For simple reference, let's call this "big idea" Hexamodel.

So, how does the Hexamodel work? Let's take me as an example. I'm a freelance graphic designer and according to the six degrees of separation concept I'm connected to everyone in the world. Perhaps not everyone in the world needs a designer, but along these degrees of people some will. Lets say that I offer a %5 commission on any person who refers me to his or her friend from the work being done. If we expand this network to everyone then it means lots of work for me, lots of money shared, and lots of friendships to be made?

Of course this is something in its roots but I believe it could be developed to create a sustainable business model. Also I haven't done much reading about it so Hexamodel being simplistic doesn't come as a surprise. There seems to be some great studies in the notes section of this wiki page. In particular, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi's 'Linked: How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life' is very intriguing.

What do you think?

It is fascinating that so little is known about the "oldest trade in the world" but prostitution has always been rampant and thriving. From the Aztecs time where Cihuacalli (House of Women) became a legalized place for prostitutes to provide sexual services for men; to the Babylonians' time where each woman had to reach, once in their lives, the sanctuary of Militta (Aphrodite or Nana/Anahita), have sex with a foreigner as a sign of hospitality for a symbolic price; and right down to the ancient Rome and Greece where slavery and sex ran alongside one another, prostitution has never ceased to thrive. Even with the abolishment of slavery, initiated by the 1926 Slavery Convention and adopted by the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, prostitution which itself is an indirect form of slavery never get exterminated.


Roman hetaera, relief, around 2nd century—head is missing.


Customer and a prostitute illustrated on an ancient Greek wine cup.


Birth of Venus/Aphrodite, the classical Latin/Greek goddess of love, lust, and beauty.


French prostitutes being taken to the police station.


"The Procuress" by Dirck van Baburen.


Köçek troupe at a fair. Recruited from the ranks of colonized ethnic groups, köçeks were entertainers and sex workers in the Ottoman empire.


A political cartoon from 1787 jesting about the notion of taxation affecting prostitutes.


Ultimately though, the main reason why prostitution remains relevant till today is because sex has always been regarded as a highest form of pleasure for humans and thus explains peoples’ crave for it. Like any other types of transaction for pleasure purposes (eg. Purchasing of games etc), sex will remain an entity that is to be purchased if people continue to view it as something that can be bought and not sacred. It is sobering and lugubrious to know that sex is increasingly becoming something of a transaction as shown by the rise of the prostitution and pornographic industries; an act of bestial nature that desecrate the sanctity of the ultimate physical intimacy between fellow beings. Indeed, such is the scope and depth of its operations that complete eradication remains an idealistic notion.


Prostitutes in the Shimpuro Brothel in Yokohama.


1941 Las Vegas hotel sign.


The red-light district in Amsterdam.


A neighborhood where prostitution and other businesses in the sex industry flourish.


Prostitution Information Centre, in Amsterdam.


Further reading:

- Prostitution in New York City, 1830-1870
- A History of Prostitution, From Antiquity to the Present Day

By Jacob Toh. Submit your thoughts - click here!