The revelation this week that a new species of extinct human – H. naledi – has been found in South Africa begs a whole lot of questions.

For me, it also reinforces the responsibilities we have today as humans. It’s like this. Some 737 bones totalling 15 near-complete skeletons were found in what seems to be a paleolithic graveyard. The interesting thing is their apparent intellect. There is evidence that they had spiritualism, because they seem to have had cultural mechanisms – involving massive effort – to dispose of their dead. The way they did it – carrying their dead deep into a hard-to-enter cave complex – also implies they had full control of fire, for light.

Holotype specimen of H. naledi, Berger et al, Creative Commons 4.0 license via Wikimedia.

All of which is another question mark over the conceit that the things modern humans use to define ourselves are unique to us. That includes recursive…