Flashes of Panic

Thursday night, A and I went down to Harvard in the rain to attend a lecture by Daniel Lieberman, a professor of anthropology. Lieberman’s idea is that running played a role in human beings evolving into the form we now have. He pointed out the ways in which we are superior distance runners in nature—there are faster runners, certainly, and stronger ones, but no other species can claim the ability to run as fast as long as we do, particularly in warm conditions.

Then, he argued that the anatomical features which support this are evidence that natural selection favored those who could run well. It allowed for hunting strategies which brought in enough calories to support our outsized and energy-hungry brains, and in that way, he argues, running made us human.

The logical chain which brings him to this conclusion is hard to argue with, unless you are one of those who considers the world to be six thousand years old and the fossil record to be an elaborate fraud. If natural selection didn’t favor runners, how did we end up with a long, flexible Achilles tendon rather than the short tendons of our closest relatives? How about our springy necks, allowing us to hold our heads largely still (thus maintaining visual focus on our prey) during the bouncy motion of running?

Lieberman is dismissive of sprinters; we’re not very good at that, he says. There’s no man who can outsprint a horse, but there is a Man vs. Horse 22-mile race every year in Wales which is often close, and it’s on hot years that the horses lose.

Lieberman’s presentation was crisp and interesting; I wish all the lectures I’ve sat in could be that entertaining.

Now Playing: Take Me Down to the Hospital from Hootenanny by The Replacements

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