Proletariat Blogging in the Heart of (UK) Predatory Capitalism! Exploring the Interface between Matter and Perception, Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Hakka Ethnography, and All Aspects of Radical Politics, History, Psychology and Philosophy – 全世界无产者联合起来!
The reanalysis further pushes back the divergence time of modern humans — Homo sapiens — whose ancestors are estimated to have lived in Africa around 500,000 years ago, Neanderthals, who lived between 24,000 and 130,000 years ago in Europe, and Homo longi, a species closely related to Denisovans, who thrived from 30,000 to 285,000 years ago across Asia and are the cousins of Neanderthals.
As sequencing tech grows faster and cheaper, scientists will keep hunting for ancient gene families, refining the ancestral blueprint, and scoping out early viral fossils hidden in microbial DNA.
New drilling missions aimed at untouched seafloor vents could reveal communities whose lifestyles echo those first biochemical gambles, tightening links between geology and genetics.
The storyline is still unfolding, but one takeaway already stands firm: life did not tiptoe onto the stage. It sprinted, armed with a full toolkit, ready to spar with viruses, and eager to reshape its surroundings – leaving every organism alive today carrying a hint of that four‑billion‑year‑old spark.
Of course, as an act of Solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we posed for some of the photographs holding one of our Palestinian scaffs. The Israeli fascists have murdered over 20,009 Palestinian men, women and children and maimed over 70,000 in just four weeks using weaponry (much of it illegal) provided by the US and the UK. I wonder what the ancient ancestors of the UK would make of the fact that their descendents use the life they have given them to deprive others of just exactly that same thing! Perhaps they would drop to their knees in despair!
In 2023 this will fall on Friday September 29th! This coincides with what is termed the ‘Chung Yeung’ Festival – where the graves of the ancestors are cleaned and tidied! In Putonghua this is pronounced as ‘Chong Yang’ (重陽) and refers to the ‘Double Nine’ attribute common in the Book of Changes (essentially a ‘double-yang’ line in a hexagram implying incredible good luck – doubled). What all this means – and there are many more stories – is that we eat Mooncakes and pay respect to our deceased ancestors – either at their graves or at a shrine – where incense-sticks are lit. Meanwhile, there is a beautiful woman, a Jade Rabbit and even a Master-Archer – who is able to shoot-down false ‘Moons’! Like most cultural aspects in traditional China – there is a complexity of integration, contradiction, paradox and reconciliation! The main point is to wish everybody Good Luck for the future!
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 