Isturits: Pascal Picq questions human evolution

The paleoanthropologist gave a lecture at the Isturits and Oxocelhaya caves on the theme of "Humanity in Movement"

The Isturits and Oxocelhaya caves, listed as Historic Monuments, a major site of Pyrenean prehistory and a remarkable geological site, were, on Thursday July 24, as part of a partnership with the Belloc Beaux Jours festival, the scene of a conference by paleoanthropologist Pascal Picq on the theme of "Humanity in motion".

A lecturer at the Collège de France and a specialist in hominid evolution, in this lecture he invited the audience to think of human evolution not as a fixed process, but as a constant movement, made up of adaptations, migrations, innovations and ruptures.

Prehistoric migrations, the expansion of Homo across the globe, and cultural and technological evolution as an extension of biological movement teach us that humans have always been in motion. Tools, fire, agriculture, and then industry have transformed humans through the interactions between their natural and cultural environments.

Closer to home, sedentarization, urbanization and globalization have all been factors of ecological and social crises, acting as accelerators of change.

Since the arrival of the steam engine (Anthropocene), the challenges of climate change and the impact of new technologies (AI, biotech) on human evolution raise the following question: should we rethink progress as adaptation or disruption?

Pascal Picq invites us, in order to better understand that humanity is always in motion, to adopt a more agile, resilient and conscious posture in the face of current crises, and, to do this, to reintegrate the thought of evolution into our political, economic and ecological reflections.

It thus offers a fascinating exploration of our human condition, in its profoundly evolutionary and adaptive aspects. Pascal Picq combines scientific rigor and philosophical openness to shed light on the challenges of the 21st ^century in the light of our evolutionary past.