The archeological record tells us we weren’t the only folks on the block back in the day. When modern humans migrated from Africa and the Middle East to Europe, they ran into the current residents: Neanderthals.
Imagine that—walking through a forest somewhere in future-Germany looking for a place to call home, and instead you find a long-lost cousin. Sort of.
Neanderthals were pretty much like us, but they had steroid brows and sturdier builds, especially their arms and hands. Archeologists think they were probably a lot stronger than us (steroids). And I’m guessing hairier. But they were pretty close, and evidence suggests we interacted with them and maybe even interbred.
No one really knows what happened to the Neanderthals. There’s a lot of theories, of course—from climatic changes to species genocide (by us, sadly). But let’s hope it was only displacement by a newer, more advanced two-wheeler (us again).
Which is what one theory suggests—that it was our brains and language that did the Neanderthals in. Our speech physiology (hardware) and brain functions (software) were a step ahead, which led to more complex language and, subsequently, better adaptability.
It’s not very different from technology today, actually. Evolution happens. A good example is VoiceXML—the open standard markup language (very similar to HTML) used to write software for IVR systems.
Before VoiceXML, IVR systems and the software languages used to create them were proprietary, but VoiceXML’s introduction in 2000 changed everything. It was open-standard so any programmer could learn it, and suddenly companies could take their systems with them to other vendors. Also, it was more advanced than any other IVR coding language, incorporating all the functions enterprise-level companies need.
Today, VoiceXML is the programming language for nearly every IVR system on the market. Too bad Joe Neanderthal isn’t around to see it. Thankfully, we are.
