THE shards of stone pictured, which have an average length of about 30mm, or 1.2 inches, may provide an insight into the evolution of the human psyche. They were discovered at Pinnacle Point, on South Africa’s southern coast, by Kyle Brown of the University of Cape Town and Curtis Marian of Arizona State University, and they are estimated to be 71,000 years old.

Science & technology

Such shards are known as microliths. They are made by heating a suitable lump of rock in a fire, and then bashing it, in order to flake pieces off its surface. They are believed to have been employed mainly as arrow heads—and were so used in Scandinavia as recently as 9,000 years ago.

From about 40,000 years ago microliths are common. Before that date, only one set of examples, from about 60,000 years ago, had been found. This fact has been used for support by those who think the human psyche evolved separately from, and more recently than, the physique of Homo sapiens.

Both fossil evidence and DNA analysis using molecular clocks (estimates of historical mutation rates) agree that Homo sapiens are 150,000-200,000 years old. It is only in the past 50,000-60,000 years, however, that it has really taken off. Some ascribe that late take-off to chance. Others think the human mind crossed a threshold at that time, and the flourishing of humanity is the consequence. The battleground for this debate is the handful of artifacts that predate 60,000 years ago—which is also the moment when Homo sapiens left Africa and started the rise that has now established the species on every continent.

Science & technology

The discovery of these particular microliths, which Dr Brown and Dr Marian report in this week’s Nature, shows that people 71,000 years ago were able to conceive of making them, to act on that conception and to use the result. That suggests they had bows and arrows, a sophisticated form of weapon. This finding thus adds weight to the argument of those who believe that members of Homo sapiens alive at that time were not, psychologically, very different from those alive today. That their culture was simpler was because there were fewer of them, and inventions needed time to accumulate, not because they were less clever.

The existence of these ancient microliths may also have a bearing on a related argument, over why human psychology is different from that of other species. One manifestation of that difference, in the view of some, is extreme altruism—extreme in the sense that people will occasionally lay down their own lives for the sake of others.

Science & technology

Such self-sacrifice is most often seen in war, and a controversial hypothesis proposed by a few evolutionary biologists is that it did indeed evolve in the context of warfare, at the time when the invention of weapons such as bows and arrows first made it possible for one group of humans to annihilate another. In those circumstances, heroic self-sacrifice to preserve a band of relatives might make evolutionary sense, since an individual’s genes could still be passed on collaterally, through surviving members of the band. That impulse, the theory goes, is still felt today, even though comrades-in-arms are not always blood relations.

Science & technology

Such thoughts are a heavy burden for a handful of stones to bear, but that is often the fate of fossil signs of human activity. Each discovery, though, does bring the truth a little closer.
Science & technology

Steve Ballmer's heir apparent Steve Sino sky abruptly departs from Microsoft amid rumors of run-ins and ambition run amok; John McAfee, millionaire founder of the antivirus software company, is sought by police in connection with the murder of his Belize neighbor; and distinguished General David Piraeus resigns as CIA chief, brought down by an FBI investigation of emails sent by his secret lover. During the week of Nov. 12, 2012, the tech industry was cast in an uncharacteristically soap opera-is light, full of notorious individuals behaving badly.

Steve Sino sky, the man who fixed the Windows Vista debacle and championed the radical OS overhaul that became Windows 8, left Microsoft suddenly this week. Sino sky, long rumored as Ballmer's replacement, has been an abrasive, polarizing figure within Microsoft, but CITE world’s Matt Roof scoffs at rumors that the departure stems from dissatisfaction with Windows 8. In "Sino sky is out, but don't expect big changes at Microsoft," Roof identifies thwarted ambition as the likelier root cause: "Sino sky could either put his ambition on hold and wait around for the top spot or move on to greener pastures." As Roof points out, "many other top Microsoft leaders have made the same decision over the last five years, including former CTO Ray Ozzie, Server & Tools chief Bob Puglia, and Business Division leader Jeff Rakes."

Woody Leonhard's look at the real reason Steve Sino sky left Microsoft also dismisses theories that the departure was linked to Windows 8 performance. Leonhard says Sino sky probably made up his mind to leave weeks ago and cites "his milquetoast performance last month at the Windows 8 product launch (starting at 11:30 in the video)" as evidence.

Meanwhile, the same day the blogosphere was buzzing over Sino sky, news broke that antivirus pioneer John McAfee was wanted for murder in Belize, the prime suspect in the shooting death of Gregory Faull, an American expatriate. This is not the first time McAfee has been the center of a maelstrom for increasingly erratic behavior. As InfoWorld's own Robert X. Cringle related back in May in "True tales of tech execs gone wild," McAfee first went on the lam in Belize after being accused by local authorities of running a meth lab.

InfoWorld security blogger Roger Grimes got to know McAfee in the late '80s, and in his firsthand account "My adventures with McAfee," describes him as "a bold entrepreneur who became a multimillionaire by creating a single executable that could scan for and clean multiple computer viruses at once. He's a big part of why I decided to make my career in the computer security industry." But Grimes says the strangest part of his personal journey with McAfee "was the time he wanted me to help him start an AIDS-free sex club." Upon hearing the latest news out of Belize, Grimes says he is "surprised, of course, but given his bizarre behavior toward the end of my association with him, not entirely shocked."

As for the sex scandal that brought down CIA Director David Piraeus, InfoWorld's Robert X. Cringle says: "Bullets shatter bones, knives cut flesh, napalm burns, and bombs explode. But nothing can hurt you quite the way email can, long after the smoke has cleared." This increasingly convoluted scandal involves a decorated four-star Army general, questions about national security, and even the September attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi (Cringle points out that Gawker has conjured up "a helpful flowchart that shows all the players -- so far -- and how they relate to each other"). But perhaps the key lessons for those in the tech industry can be found in "Email lessons from Gen. Piraeus' downfall." It's easier than you think to trace emails, so be mindful of what you're sending.

This article, "High tech or high drama? You decide," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.