Jared Maycock
Salt Lake Community College
Anth - 1020
Reflection
I am a Computer Science major, so I look at this question in a different light.
Academically the class will likely never directly impact my future. However, I would be
crazy to think that it wouldn’t impact my future at all. When I married my now wife, it was
clear that I was mainly joining her family, while I have my own. They don’t live in this
state and so the majority of holidays are spent at her parent’s house. If you have ever
had a political argument at thanksgiving dinner than you know where this is going.
I enjoy a good discussion and I happen to have access to plenty of family members that
hold different views than myself. They are passionate and educated in their views which
is even better. I know for a fact the knowledge I gained in this class will greatly improve
my ability to communicate my opinions, facts, and theory in these talks. I look forward to
providing a stronger understanding of how the theory of evolution came to be and more
importantly some of the nuance around it.
I think a favorite topic of mine would be Neandertal’s and the main misconception that
stuck with me the most. Since I was a kid, I have used the insult “You Neanderthal”. So
here I am in this class watching a video where they explain how the Neandertals
developed pitch and exactly how complicated that is. I question if I could have figured
out tying my shoes without parental help. They not only survived in a much harsher
environment, they created new technology to do it better. Potentially they packed the
skulls and burned at high heat for long periods of time to then break it out to gather the
pitch. This is an incredibly complex process that I cannot fathom how they figured it out
in their timeline. Neandertals were very intelligent.
In one of the earlier modules they began talking about the canines of different primates.
Here they bring up the honing complex which self sharpens the teeth and that’s
something that I never understood until now. How the teeth retained their shape. The
first premolars acting like a sharpening apparatus was really interesting for me. I kept a
close eye on these as they slowly got smaller through out the modules all the way to
homo sapiens where they no longer exist.
I really enjoyed this class and the resources we had to learn about it. (some of the extra
credit was great) While I may not directly benefit from this course academically, I look
forward to future conversations or “debates” on the topics we discussed. I might be the
crazy uncle at thanksgiving dinner but at least ill be able to provide sources to my in
provoked arguments.