We Might Be Wrong About Humanity's Near Extinction [34:00]

YouTube ^ | April 8, 2026 | New Scientist

[SunkenCiv]

We Might Be Wrong About Humanity's Near Extinction | 34:00 
New Scientist | 484K subscribers | 330,045 views | April 8, 2026

[ElkGroveDan]

If that happened today, Homo sapiens would instantly become one of the most endangered species on Earth, yet scientists now think something very close to this may actually have happened 930,000 years ago.

A bigger question is, did other human extinctions actually happen? This would explain why there are no more elves, or hobbits, or leprechauns.

[Lazamataz]

"All this humans origins stuff is best guesses. This is why they contradict each other. If you don’t entertain hoi polloi with best guesses and slightly fresher takes. That American gullibles can see on their 65” x 4K boob tubes, your funding will dry up. Public and private from bored NGOs."

That was incoherent.

I know what he's saying. dennisw posted a stream-of-consciousness post lamenting the fact that in order to publish or be seen by the public, you need to push the outer boundaries everywhere.

[SunkenCiv]

Whattayamean, Leprechuans still exist. As long as there are pubs in Ireland...

[SunkenCiv]

It was a stream of buzzwords, not consciousness.

[dennisw]

How many theories of mankind’s origin have you heard through the years? Me at least 10. The researcher must make his half baked take sexy, or he will not get funding. His competition will.

[Lazamataz]

Yup, that’s what I understood you to be saying. 😊

[Castlebar]

Cheetahs have survived at least two major genetic bottleneck events in history—roughly 100,000 years ago and again about 10,000–12,000 years ago That’s why they have almost no genetic diversity.

Cheetahs never prosper.