Extraordinary claims about the small-brained human relative Homo naledi challenge prevailing view of cognitive evolution
In the millions of years over which humans have been evolving, brain size has tripled, and behavior has become exponentially more elaborate. Early, small-brained hominins (members of the human family) made only simple stone tools; later, brainier ancestors invented more sophisticated implements and developed more advanced subsistence strategies. As for behavioral complexity in our own egg-headed species, Homo sapiens, well, we went all out—developing technology that carried us to every corner of the planet, ceremonially burying our dead, forming extensive social networks, and creating art, music and language rich in shared meaning. Scientists have long assumed that increasing brain size drove these technological and cognitive advances. Now startling new discoveries at a fossil site in South Africa are challenging this bedrock tenet of human evolution.
Researchers working in the Rising Star cave system near Johannesburg report that they have found evidence that the small-brained fossil human species Homo naledi engaged in several sophisticated behaviors previously associated exclusively with large-brained hominins. Describing their findings in three papers to be published in the journal eLife, they contend that H. naledi, whose brain was around a third of the size of our own, used fire as a light source, went to great lengths to bury its dead, and engraved designs that were probably symbolic in the rock walls of the cave system. The findings are preliminary, but if future research bears them out, scientists may need to rethink how we became human.
Comment: These stories always fascinate me. My early interest in anthropology grew from watching all those National Geographic shows about Louis B. Leakey rooting around for bones in Olduvai Gorge. Then I found Robert Ardrey’s “African Genesis” and was enthralled by his tales of australopithecus africanus. This led to watching Jane Goodall, my first celebrity crush, and her Gombe Stream chimpanzees. I was again thrilled by her discovery of the chimpanzees making and using tools which challenged our definition of man. So man, so smug and full of himself, is not so unique after all.
These findings about homo naledi drive another nail in the coffin of the uniqueness of modern man. Homo naledi, a being just barely human, used fire, buried their dead and created art. Sounds like a culture to me. And an apparently long lived culture. If we want to maintain our uniqueness, we will have to, once again, redefine what it means to be human.
I believe a better idea is to admit that we are far more an integral part of creation, both here on Earth and beyond, than some unique entity meant to have dominion over the rest of creation. Maybe then we can begin to acknowledge and comprehend some of the wonders around us such as the rich and complex ways of the animals and plants that share this world with us. Perhaps then we will be able to accept what lies beyond our world.
TTG
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/world/homo-naledi-burials-carvings-scn/index.html?iid=fw_var-reg-hp-9
They were intelligent. Don’t survive 100’s of thousands of years being idiots. Evidence shows they mourned their dead just like us, cared for their community. If any living being buries their dead with trickets they were likely just as smart as us and they did do this.
TTG – So did the hobbits of Flores, Homo floresiensis, perhaps also make art and control fire and honor their dead?
leith,
Don’t know. They were found with tools, but I haven’t heard mention of anything beyond that. Maybe such artifacts were just not found yet or they were destroyed over time.
Frodo is a Hobbit..Human looking..Nice House..
This Story and the Photos of The Researchers ,,with Piles
of Bones in a “Grave.” in the Cave ..Do not Impress Me as a
“Buriel .. The Researchers have assembled what looks like a Primate Skeleton..Small Partial Skull..Small Bones..
“Strong Shoulders for Climbing..” No Trace of the
Large Hip Bone.. hmmm Thats where the Hams Are..
Not Much Data about Teeth Exams for Food Material..Carbon DNA Dating…Just alot of Speculations…and the Wall Carvings only Match similar Human/Nethanderal Carvings Else Where..
I Dont Think this Photo Representation of Mr Naledi and Mr. Frodo Were Hanging on the Cave Walls..So they make
a Ape/Primate looking Drawing and Claim Its Pea Brain is Equal to Beautiful Homo Sapiens..
Sounds like a Funding Drive for the “Evolution” ..Crew
based on a 2013 Expedition that CNN Put out as a
Bold New Scientific Discovery..
I Got a Hoot out of a Cartoon in My Newspaper Today.. by “Tundra”,, Calling the Cartoon “CSI : Archeology”
a Showing a CSI Detective..looking down at a Skull and Some Rib Bones in the Dirt….A “Scientist is Telling Him…”
Your Hunch was Right..Homo Habelis,Early Pleistocene
Period. Dental Records show Him to Be a Hunter-Gatherer
by the Name of Phil Johnson…”
JT
jim ticehurst,
These caves yielded over 1,550 bones and teeth comprising six adults and 9 juveniles. This is a more complete set of remains collected than for many other hominids. The shape and morphology of the Homo naledi brain closely resembles that of Homo sapiens, just a third of the sapiens size. The cave art, the burials and the use of fire for light and cooking predates Neandertal and Homo sapiens use of these items by 100,000 years. There is speculation that there may have been interbreeding with Homo sapiens much like the later Homo sapiens-Neanderthal interbreeding and that genetic material from naledi led to the shape of the sapiens brain. Of course that is speculation, a SWAG at best, much like your CSI: Archeology joke. I’m looking forward to the possible, maybe even probable, analysis of Homo naledi DNA. That will say a lot about how he fits into the story of Man.
Judging by your comments, I get the feeling that Homo naledi, his fire, art and burial practices pose a serious challenge to some of your core beliefs. Is that so or is just healthy skepticism.
My swag is we’re in the stone age era of discovering this stuff. There’s so much more. Personally I think there are loads of surprises in store. In our lifetimes? Yes but only a small fraction of what’s out there. Take a clue from dark matter & dark energy. They don’t know anything. I’ve thought for years there’s stuff right in front of our eyes we haven’t the slightest clue about. And I don’t mean the Stephen King stuff. I did encounter a very seriously haunted house though in Rhode Island. No joking. Zero. After I related my experience to the guy who let me stay there he told me the area was famous for the experiences I told him I experienced the night before. I don’t think he was joking. But he was a bit slippery, but New England is major big league weird dude. I’m serious.
TTG…
Humanoid Bi Peds andSurvival of the Fittest;;
and the Fossil Record of Apes and Primates..
My Opinion..Homo Sapiens Have Nicer Skulls..
HUMAN….Homo Sapiens Can Speake Multiple Languages..Write …Words..Communicate..Calcuate…And CREATE
.
I Am Not Impressed With Ape Communication
or The Sound of Howler Monkeys.or Monkey Music….No Rythm. Lot
of Pounding,,with Sticks.
Doesn’t Really Challenge My Core Beliefs..That They find Extinct Species who all Died in a Deep
Cave..Anyone Wonder Why,,? Spontaneous..?
That Process is Long Over..We Know Who the Survivors Are…among the Sapiens..And Boy
Can Homo Sapien Sing..Make Music..Create Art
and Use FIRE to Reach The Stars..
Im More into the History on Mankind..Creation
of Civilezations..Pre Flood/Post Flood..Sumeria..
History..Scattering of the RACES .;;Thier Historys..
A Snapshot….By Jim Ticehurst:
“Ancient Pathways Now Abandon Mountains
Where Water Has Carved Caverns..in the Rock
And Dark and Wonderful Mysterious Chambers
Bear Prints ..On the Ground or Limestone Walls
Which Are Littered With Bones..or Ancient Tools
All That remain..Of The Battlefield Of Fate…..”
JT
Interesting. Piltdown man was a hoax. Fame and considerable fortune. At the rate the “defense” department is finding spaceships and their weird pilots what do you say we raid a lost ark or two? Movie rights. T-shirts. Autographs. Talk shows.
Out of Africa…
I Think Carbon Dating of Geological Material Always comes up Millions
..When Matters WAS Created…,,
So…in a Cave in China…All Thats Left of a Giant 8-10 Foot Bi Ped Ape that was
…like Big foot.. was one Single Molar.. The Giant “Ape” was called.
.Gigantopithecus by a Professor in Washington State…carbon dated
at 12,000 Years..No Bones..Ribs..Skulls..Nada..ONE Tooth..
So..If They Found Some Homo Like Bones in This African Cave..With Evidence of
Fire…Cave Art..Cooking …I Suspect that Homo Sapiens Came into the Naladi Cave
and Co Habitated..For Safety..and buried them..prio to the Homo Sapien Migration up Africa..into Europe/Asia as the Record shows..
There Are well Documented Records of Human Migration..Homo Sapien Creation..
Highly Intelligent that went out into the World and Adapted..Alone with All Levels of sapiens..
The Last 12,000 Years of Mans Existence..Pre Flood/Post Flood are on record
and DOCUMENTED..I Believe it fits the Genesis Story..Of Creation and Destiny..
Right Down to The Revelations about The Mankinds Fate..The “End of Days”
which One Generation will Witness and Experience. Based on the Evidence..
That Time is Now..
Speaking of Death and Burials..I Suspect That Pope Francis may Soon Pass
Away…And the Last Pope..according to a Saint..Will become Pope..I Suspect
That The Way events and and Race..are being Programmed .. I Suspect
The Last Pope….May Come out of Africa Also…Full Circle..for Homo Sapiens,,
JT
jim ticehurst,
There are other methods of dating remains beyond the carbon 14 method. Your speculation is as good as anybody else’s speculation, but there is no evidence of Homo sapiens in those caves. Homo sapiens remains have now been dated to close to 300,000 years ago, far beyond your 12,000 years.
@TTG & Jim
Human culture may even predate Sapiens, possibly up to middle Pleistocene, 750 000 years.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8666906/
jld,
Interesting article. It talks of Australopithecine as well as various Homo cultures. I think it does a good job of explaining the essence of what comprises a culture.
Worry more about Hope dying than any Pope. The Pope is an old man and can be replaced. Father figure fixation. Papa, papa. What should we call a female Pope? The Mama Mope? Daddy’s are valuable. Women can be a bit flighty. I liked very much the first few pages of one of the Hindu religious texts. The Ramayana or something, i don’t remember. A Queen or empress. And all she does is have sex with the shah and pop out kids and then kill them because she wants to live the high life in style and not be bothered with them. Eventually the kings figure out through some elaborate bribery how to get her to let the children live and civilization is born. Realistic. I worked in a city high school for years. We had a student who was the ninth child. The other eight had been killed by the mother, the eighth by being electrocuted in the bathtub. Mommy dearest made it look like an accident as she also conned Child services and walked scot free on the other murders. The chairlady of the music department was trying to keep number nine alive. Yeah. And the pope’s confrères – they love little kids. A lot. Cardinal should be respelled Cardanal.
Jim: the world was bigger than the M.E. A verrryyyy similar flood story has come from ancient India and it makes me wonder. Were the two stories about the same flood or a different ones. How many world wide floods could there have been? Did YWHE create the first one and Bramh the second. Or did YWHE and Brahm agree to just have one for them both. Or maybe they were the result of man caused climate change and there was NGN (no god necessary). The bible is a great creation story but there were other stories and other people. I’m betting the Indian great flood boat came down atop Mount Carauntoohill. It would explain why the Irish still talk funny.
Billy..
You Raise Interesting Questions….And the Culture in India
and Its Religious Storys Are Fascinating Indeed…And They
rate second to me.in Interest..Behind The Holy Scriptures in the Bible
and May Be Connected to the “Wise Men” of The East.who followed a “Star “that was the Symbol of a new Born King
In Israel…The Bible is Far more Accurate in its History..and Detail..Especially About World Events..and the Destruction of
The Temple and The Scattering of the Tribes of Israel Abroad
Until The “BONES” regather. In Israel..In The Last Days..
That Happened in 1948..
I Would like to Say…I Believe that Col.W. Patrick Lang..
A Knight Commander In the “Equestrian Order of the HOLY
Sepulchre” and Devoute Christian Catholic.. Would Point
to The BIBLE…in Answer to Your Question..My Respect.Sent
JT
Elephants have graveyards. Large brains.
Words beginning with hum.
Humus:
——
the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms.
——-
Probably related to burial, returning to earth. “Homo” became “human” somehow.
Humans uniquely (not quite) bury their dead.
Hum, humming – something humans do, primitive (primate) music?
Humility. Humiliate.
Russian word for “smart” умный – roughly umni – language has no h, it’s a close phonetic match for “human” – smart creature.
Ants are social animals as are humans. Why didn’t they take over? Too small to handle fire. In myth, that’s the key to human progress, and the catastrophe of opening Pandora’s box – Prometheus – the ancient or pagan Lucifer, the light (fire) bearer who is cast out of heaven steals fire from the gods.
Greek myth and Hebrew both feature a god who regrets creating mankind. In old testament it’s in the Noah myth and commentaries, in Greek the Prometheus myth. Prometheus is told by Zeus he’s ruined everything as he, Zeus, was just getting set to recreate man for the sixth time because he’s understood how faulty he is. Hebrew commentary on Noah in genesis mentions the number six also in the same regard. It means they got it from the Greeks. Supposedly there have been six continent arrangement epochs, where the tectonic plates reached different configurations. I remember wondering if the ancients somehow were reflecting knowledge of that in those Prometheus & Noah myths.
Air quality index 271 here now. Was over 400 in Syracuse. I was a huge follower of the Leakeys and Goodal too. I personally don’t accept the stuff being pushed of late about extraterrestrial life. Mainly because it’s coming from the “defense” department (war was the original name, it was changed to defense after the war & bomb). And because I think it’s a rather obvious attempt at devaluing human life, to say it really doesn’t matter if we all get wiped out. Which they plan for as do our billionaire (trillionaire actually) rulers with their Nazi spawn Klaus Schwab. It’s not just him. My incredibly wealthy corporate lawyer cousin (who wouldn’t give me 5 dollars if I was starving to death) who hangs out at Harvard – that’s what he says they talk about all the time – that every body has to go.
Let’s see if you guys get this joke: Humans are the creatures that bury their own kind.
Yes, they certainly are.
You forgot Hummus; something certain tribes of humans eat often. Is it brain food? It’s from – and enjoyed in, to this day – the “cradle of civilization”; which is not in Africa, but rather around the Tigris and Euphrates. Did it all start when monkey’s discovered a tasty dip for their leaves and grubs?!!?
Great stuff. I can eat a supermarket aisle full if I’m not careful. In my late 30s I went full on vegetarian really hard for about two years. Lost tons of weight. Never had nearly so much energy in my life. Nearly floated down the street, felt like I could fly. Hummus and 7-grain bread were a huge part of my diet. What happened to my discipline? Can’t remember. My cholesterol went from abnormally high to 138. Blood pressure super low. I think I had a sardine occasionally because of the huge nucleic acid density and the bones which are supposed to be good too. Also onions in moderation. My first wife was so healthy you could cry. An apple a day. Usually Granny Smiths. Didn’t smoke at all or drink but very little infrequently. But she was a natural. Ate like a bird.
Interesting piece. I’ve seen those evolution charts where a ‘human’ form progresses from bent ape form to erect and fully human appearance. I wonder when awareness of a Transcendent force took place. In other words the revelation of the Human Soul.
Whitehall,
Man was aware of transcendent forces long before modern religions and the belief in the uniqueness of the Human Soul.
Transcendent force? Why the “force” obsession? Is water a force. Is the sun? How about Transcendant energy? Transcending The sun is ascending and then descending. Another thing I don’t like is the terminology “big bang.” Everything has to be an explosion, right and then it’s good, or if something isn’t threatening and scary, why notice it? Why not the “big Blossoming” or Universe in bloom (rhymes with boom at least). The first statues recovered from way back were figurines of fertile or very pregnant women – transcending into the next generation. Quite supernatural enough in a dangerous cruel world of reptiles, predators and calamity. They dreamed at night. So they thought they visited other invisible worlds.
Transcendant Fours. Man transcendended (in some ways) four legged animals. And I bet anything that the forces he feared almost as much as the sun not rising were “transcendant” fours – animals that might get the better of him. When did the idea arise that only those who died in battle went to heaven (valhalla)? Seems to remain with us. Absurd if you ask me. Johnny died and inheaven were only invaders of normandy. And oh, yes, lots of Japanese who bombed pearl harbor and ghengis khan’s soldiers and nazis who murdered thousands at Babi Yar but went to heaven because they died in Stalingrad or Kursk, I guess so. Mother theresa? In hell must be. Or is she to be punished by being reborn?
F&L,
Call it whatever you want. Among other times, I’ve witnessed an expression of that transcendent force one evening sitting along the little stream behind the house leaning against a large oak. I watched two young beavers, one working on the dam and the other caring for their remaining parent at the stream edge. I felt I was watching a live action book of the New Testament play out over a few hours, the book of Castor.
Interesting observation about all warriors going to heaven, definitely a bit of cultural reinforcement across all manner of societies. I remember studying the concept of altruism across species in a college ecology course. Robert Ardrey spoke of it in a discussion of a baboon sacrificing himself to protect the troop. In the college course we even had the calculus equations to explain it.
Yes, altruistic genes vs selfish genes.
You might be remembering a predator-prey analysis model which tries to figure out the stable equilibria in simple ecosystems such as predator fish & prey fish alone together in a pond with everything else set to zero. Too many of either and everything dies off. I think we learned it as a pair of linear coupled differential equations in an undergrad biophysics course I took and wish I hadn’t. I did pull several all nighters writing a thesis on neural nets though to pass. Way back then. In your idea it might be to model altruistic density versus selfish density. I think we’ve tilted way too far toward the selfish in our present American experience, to be kind. If you believe in inherited traits then if your society selects increasingly for selfish, it won’t take too long to get piranha world. You special forces guys can likely survive that. Me, not nearly as likely. With your Soviet knowledge you might know about their scientist in the early 20th who in a matter of only 11 generations managed to breed all the agression out of a breed of silver foxes. I can’t remember if he was trying to counter the dopey pseudo-Marxian geneticist who ruined Soviet genetics by denying Mendelian inheritance or if he was a Lamarckian. Mendel was wrong because his theory violated dialectical materialism. Ok.
My favorite was getting shot for the crime of bourgeois humanism. That’s when you show compassion or pity for people who were shot and had all their possessions stolen. Because to think like that was bourgeois. I guess maybe marching everyone who could read or practice medicine or teach into the jungles on hundred mile marches to farm with tools they were forced to make from nothing wasn’t too shabby either. Khmer Rogues.
I’m beginning to think that the defining characteristic of human civilization is the existence of people with marketing degrees, and the fact that there exist careers in this field. (This is not a positive comment.)
PeterHug,
Your comment reminds me of Doug Adams’ treatment of mankind’s middle men in “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.”
From the number of media reports I’ m seeing from most all media outlets, I get the impression the Uke counter against the Russians is underway. I have a hard time trusting media. I do trust right here.
Whitewall,
It is most likely underway. It won’t be a D-Day type event where the entire reserve force crosses the line of departure at once. It will build slowly based on successes/failures along the way and opportunities detected. Ukraine is still shaping the battlefield to its liking.
Thank you.
So a piecemeal assault to ‘break the line’ followed by driving from afar to exploit the breach. How long with all that walking/driving from assembly areas to the breakthrough point take?
Fred,
Could take days. Could take weeks or more. Hopefully there will be more than one breakthrough point. It took the Russians over six months and a butt load of casualties to take one town.
TTG,
Ukraine is going to punch a hole in the line and then take days to get troops into place to exploit it? That’s perfectly assinine. Russia had a wide open flank last year at limon or wherever when the assault for stopped for a “beer break” as you put it. That culminating point didn’t get exploited because there was no mass behind the attack, you are indicating the same damn thing will happen now but in multiple locatons.
What were Ukraine’s casualties? Dick in a meat grinder, or some other number? Where do they stand in the attrition war?
Fred,
Russia had a wide open flank and major formations ripe for being cauldroned, but Ukraine had nothing left to exploit those chances. No surprise given that the main Ukrainian assault element consisted of Humvees and Scooby Doo vans. It’s amazing they got as far as they did, which was liberating a good chunk of territory.
I doubt Ukraine will commit all the reserves that they spent months amassing on one roll of the dice. You’re far too impatient. We’ve seen what that strategy did for Russia when they threw everything at the seizure of Bakhmut. In five months they had 100,000 casualties and a gain of about 300 square miles, far less than what they lost to the far shorter Kharkiv counteroffensive.
Fred –
After your beer break those Ukrainians liberated Limon and kicked out two Russian motorized rifle regiments, a Spetznatz detachment, and several different LPR/DPR militia units.
By the way that was Russian beer, left behind by panicking Russian troops. Along with much other war booty that was left behind by the fleet footed Putinistas. Vehicles, tons of ammunition, rifles, helmets, field kitchens, tents, bedrolls, comm & crypto gear, and dirty laundry.
Leith,
Thanks for the insult. Go back and read Tv’s commentary on that battle to understand who was being refered too.
TTG,
The Ukrainians didn’t achieve a major victory and capture thousands because they couldn’t. You excoriated me for suggesting that then, and are doing the same now.
Fred,
You gave the Russians five months to capture Bakhmut, yet a week of Ukrainian offensive actions with most of the reserves not yet committed without a breakthrough to the coast is just not fast enough for you.
Fred: If I understood Col Lang, a culminating point is not to be exploited. It is a point at which the Gen’l says this far today, (this month, this 6 months) and no further. A snake uncoiled is just that, gone too far, gone b/y its strategic culminating point. A coiled snake can still bite your ass. Exceeding the culminating point presents danger for your army. The wise leader pulls up before he reaches this juncture.
TTG,
I don’t recall making any predictions about Bahkmut. I do recall asking why that force that crossed the river last year and could have bagged 10K+ Russians on the wrong side of the river stopped short. To quote PL from Sept of last year:
“Ukraine should seek a decisive battle which breaks Russian will to continue.”
A month later commenter Sam asked:
“It appears that the 25k Russian military force on the west of the Dnieper are in a world of hurt. If they collapse quickly and surrender will Crimea get hosed?”
Pat Lang says: October 4, 2022 at 5:56 pm
Yes”
Ukraine missed a big opportunity. I don’t see them getting any better. The Russians are still getting “disposable units” (as col Lang called them) shot up. They are doing attritional damage to the Ukrainians at the same time. That’s not a way for Ukraine to win.
Fred,
Ukraine raised, equipped and trained twelve brigades since the end of their Kharkiv counteroffensive. Sure it would have been great if they were able to eliminate those Russian forces around Lyman, but they lacked the forces and strength to do so and most of the Russians escaped leaving much of their equipment behind. Ukraine was also conducting the larger counteroffensive at Kherson at the time.
No insult to you intended Fred. The mocking was meant for butcher Vlad.
In Highschool I worked at a nearby Shell station. I loved those guys. If the boss caught you reading anything other than the funny papers, he ..
The guy had mysterious powers. One day someone asked Where’s Jim? For some reason at that instant I opened a huge local telephone directory, at random, to a page. I have no idea why other than that it was right in front of me and probably I thought I should appear to be doing something. The page was a full page ad for Dunkin Donuts. As soon as I read the page Jim walked in with packages of donuts and coffee from the store in the ad. Probably a trick. I think I figured it out but I don’t recall the solution. Stuff like that happened frequently. Very mysterious place.
George, an incredibly, ridiculously handsome guy was back from the Air Force in Thailand during the VN war. Radio repairman. He relieved me on night shifts, working the graveyard from midnight to 8.
He would read the daily news and chuckle and say things like – hey F&L, you ever read the newspapers? (That was a serious question in this context). Yeah, of course George. Why? “You ever read these stories where someone gets run over and killed?” Sure George, traffic accidents, all the time. “Yeah, well did you ever think that maybe some of those people deserved it?” I didn’t know what to say.
With the passage of time, I came to think I understood why he said that. It wasn’t particularly encouraging. Somehow, I managed. It was certainly a learning experience.
I don’t think anyone knows where we came from, or when. Some people are just too quick to declare they have discovered this or that proof, as if they they they have a definitive answer, as opposed to another piece of a much larger puzzle. But I guess there’s a market for that sort of thing. Some people like mysteries and some hate them and want open ends closed up all nice and tidy – and there’s politics that demand certain narratives be advanced.
The standard Darwin theory of evolution is known to be way off. The numbers guys figured out it was not able to account for various drastic changes over the estimated time frames they were supposed to happen in. Stephen Jay Gould monkeyed around with punctuated equilibrium ideas. It didn’t pan out either. Don’t get me wrong, science absolutely didn’t go creationist, they just understand they haven’t figured it out yet. There’s still plenty of unknowns in the macro-molecular theories of how DNA and Rna evolved from basic elements, especially the cleaving enzymes of the replication. The fine details of photosynthesis weren’t nailed down till more recently than I realized. I once owned the whole set of scientific American books. I read about it there. Really mind bogglingly complex and out of this world. Chlorophyll molecules are huge as molecules go, and have been shown to exhibit thecquantum dual slit interference behavior. So have Buckyball molecules. It’s gonna be an amazing world in a few centuries if we don’t destroy everything first. Quantum teleportation of chlorophyll is quite possible. Not quite yet. Now that’s something that may have been involved in how everything came to be this way. It must have been in some way. Birds have been discovered to use the spooky action at a distance phenomenon in their navigation systems. Which is the basis for quantum teleportation. I remember walking north to south carrying a bar magnet in my left hand and turning left to go east west and feeling something in my hand. That’s different, but it was quite cool.