Robert Winston is well known in the UK.He is infact Lord Winston being elevated by the Blair Labour Government.He is also a Professor of Obstetrics with a special interest in Infertility.Just a little background.It is a good series but I have also found it dumbing down but remember it is aimed at a generalist audience.The special effects are excellent but gimmicky at times. -----Original Message----- From: Evolutionary Fitness Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Automatic digest processor Sent: 05 June 2003 22:01 To: Recipients of EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS digests Subject: EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS Digest - 6 May 2003 to 5 Jun 2003 (#2003-44) There is one message totalling 51 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. BBC's Walking with Cavemen - episode 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- The FAQ for Evolutionary Fitness is at http://www.evfit.com/faq.htm To unsubscribe from the list send an e-mail to [log in to unmask] with the words SIGNOFF EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS in the _body_ of the e-mail. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 08:30:59 -0500 From: Keith Thomas <[log in to unmask]> Subject: BBC's Walking with Cavemen - episode 1 A few minutes ago I finished watching the first half-hour episode of the BBC's 'Walking with Cavemen'. It's a mixed bag; here are some of the positives: 1. excellent background to the causes of the climate change that transformed the African jungles into savanna and how this transformation enabled the evolutionary trajectory of Australopithecus to naturally select phenotypes that, eventually, became Homo sapiens sapiens. This part of the program made it abundantly clear how the many parallel branches of hominids arose 2. throughout the program a convincing account of phenotypic change, marred only by an occasional but surprising lapse into ambiguity between Lamarckian and Darwinian evolution. 3. it is unlikely that the program's producer, Robert Winston, has given any thought to Evolutionary Fitness as we know it. Yet the program showed A. afarensis (Lucy's mob) engaged in activities that could have been scripted by Art de Vany: close communal living, long periods of relaxation and mutual grooming, brief periods of very intense activity 4. the only food shown being eaten was fruit. No fire, no meat. This tallies with what we know about food in this era before the widespread use of stone tools. 5. a convincing re-creation of the paleo environment, including a depiction of the vulnerability of Australopithecus without Homo's intelligence, language and tools. And here are the main negatives 1. some of the make-up was unconvincing; it looked like someone wearing a cut price gorilla outfit. On the other hand, some was exquisite. 2. for a viewer like me - and like others on this list - the script is occasionally dumbed down and allowed to become edu-tainment. At lunchtime today I bought the book produced to accompany the series. Buy the book (a) if you have children who enjoyed the program or (b) if you want a little additional technical information about paleontology and human evolution to complement the program - in easy doses. Nothing so far relating directly to Evolutionary Fitness. Keith ------------------------------ End of EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS Digest - 6 May 2003 to 5 Jun 2003 (#2003-44) ************************************************************************ ----------------------------------------------------------------- The FAQ for Evolutionary Fitness is at http://www.evfit.com/faq.htm To unsubscribe from the list send an e-mail to [log in to unmask] with the words SIGNOFF EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS in the _body_ of the e-mail.