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Comment by happytiger | Hacker News Reader

Nobody look up Danny Vendramini’s Neanderthal predation theory.

We’re still afraid of boogeymen, aren’t we?

That’s a leading theory. Afraid of the dark? It’s evolutionary adaptation to living side-by-side with humans who could see in the dark: and yes, Neanderthals could.

> Neanderthals could

proven how?

Science!

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21759233

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2013-03-13-neanderthal-brain-focus...

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130319093639.h...

I looked it up, he wrote a book 'Them and Us"

From the blurb: "...Neanderthal Predation (NP) theory reveals that Neanderthals were 'apex' predators - who resided at the top of the food chain, and everything else - including humans - was their prey..."

https://www.amazon.com/Them-Us-Neanderthal-predation-created...

I’ll bite. Does he say Neanderthals hunted and ate humans?

So if the neanderthals were "top flight predators" that predated on the scrawnier yet intelligent homo sapiens I can't help but be reminded of the passages of the Bible referencing the Nephilim.

From Genesis 6:4

> The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

Some higher power or the inscrutable workings of evolution and planetary change, spared us.

It would make Cain's wife (which is claimed to be his sister to try to cover up the plot hole) more interesting if we view her as a Neanderthal.

Adam / Eve => first Homosapiens, but this doesn't mean Neanderthals weren't already around.

All of this bible based theorizing actually makes a rather interesting hypothesis less interesting.

Howcome?

Because it takes an interesting premise that could possibly be followed up using genetic and archaeological data and turns it into some nonsense that happened what, 6000 years ago? It cheapens it.

I don't mean to belabour this, but I am sorry if you feel my original comment was taking factual research down an unrelated tangent. In referencing nephilim I am not trying to advocate for truth behind biblical writings, I just find it interesting to think that perhaps memories from tens of thousands of years ago survive in some form in our imagination and artistic expression. Perhaps living beside other people who are similar and also strange is a recurring pattern in human civilization and it is natural to project onto those "others" our fears and desires.

I see where you’re coming from. It’s a distant generational memory that imprints itself on a relatively recent religious text. That being said, I feel like Indian or Ancient Greek mythologies have so much more longevity and so many more entities that would readily avail themselves to this exact situation (asuras, devas, Jupiter and Zeus could be considered extensions of Neanderthal gods etc.)

Like the other person, I'm not exactly Catholic. I just find it interesting to retcon a plot hole a few thousand years later.

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