168
9 Reinforcement in the Twenty-First Century
course, but quite often left, one after another, their birthplace without a destination [2–
5]. Their birthplace is estimated to be the northeastern parts of the African continent,
and from there they often reached so far to Asia and Europe, e.g., the Peking human
and the Java human, and the Neanderthals.
The Neanderthals in Europe are known to have partially been crossbred with
Homo sapiens who arrived there later, which has been substantiated by the analyses
of both DNA and ancient proteins [6]. The Denisovans, the latest human species
before us, whose bone fragments were found in the Denisovan Cave in Russia’s
Altai Mountains, were estimated to be crossbred with our ancestors in Asia, too.
Recently, they were also found on Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of more than 3000 m,
which suggests the Denisovans were evolved a genetic adaptation that helped them
to cope in low-oxygen environments. This was eventually passed down to some
modern Tibetans [7]. These findings show that the ancient-human groups were much
widespread even before our ancestors migrated to Asia and Europe.
H. sapiens, our ancestor, appeared on the earth around two hundred thousand years
ago and got out of the birthplace, too. Specifically, quite a number of the H. sapiens
set out on a journey about eighty thousand years ago and migrated to various places.
A series of migrations of our ancestors finally resulted in the spread of the H. sapiens
all over the world: It is estimated that they have reached the southern tip of the South
American continent around 13–15 thousand bce [1–5]. This may historically be the
first globalization of the Homo in terms of geography.
During this geographical migration, their survival was dependent on collecting and
hunting as they had been doing in Africa. Eventually, some of them began to cultivate
a plant, who decided to stay rather than to continue migration. One probable place
where the agricultural activity has started is the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East [3,
4, 8]. When the hunting and gathering economy had been predominant, people were
forced to move, chasing the catch and looking for the wild eatable plants. Agriculture,
even with its primitive techniques, enabled humans to settle down at a place where
flatlands and water were available. The globalization of agriculture began then, and
it was accompanied by the domestication of a few animals as well as several plants.
Finally, the agricultural revolution had afforded an extra-economic condition, which
resulted in the prosperous ancient civilization at three areas in the world; the Tigris–
Euphrates basin, the Indus basin, and the Hwang Ho (the Yellow River) basin. At the
time, people invented metallic devices, at first bronze and later iron wares, in addition
to those made of stones. Thus, globalization by people’s migration has given rise to
the agricultural revolution, which further resulted in civilization [2–5, 8]. Sometime
during this development, it is estimated that invention of language (and speech) took
place and was playing a decisive role in promoting the process toward civilization,
as well as transportation (i.e., migration).
The present authors have discussed sustainable development (SD) and considered
the relationship of SD with two technical factors, i.e., transportation and information
[8, 9]. Globalization and SD are different concepts, but the two are a general idea representing the dynamic social tendency, which is much influenced by the development
of technological progress. Globalization is the oldest social trend originated from a
primitive society in the period of the Stone Age as described above. The beginning of
9 Reinforcement in the Twenty-First Century
course, but quite often left, one after another, their birthplace without a destination [2–
5]. Their birthplace is estimated to be the northeastern parts of the African continent,
and from there they often reached so far to Asia and Europe, e.g., the Peking human
and the Java human, and the Neanderthals.
The Neanderthals in Europe are known to have partially been crossbred with
Homo sapiens who arrived there later, which has been substantiated by the analyses
of both DNA and ancient proteins [6]. The Denisovans, the latest human species
before us, whose bone fragments were found in the Denisovan Cave in Russia’s
Altai Mountains, were estimated to be crossbred with our ancestors in Asia, too.
Recently, they were also found on Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of more than 3000 m,
which suggests the Denisovans were evolved a genetic adaptation that helped them
to cope in low-oxygen environments. This was eventually passed down to some
modern Tibetans [7]. These findings show that the ancient-human groups were much
widespread even before our ancestors migrated to Asia and Europe.
H. sapiens, our ancestor, appeared on the earth around two hundred thousand years
ago and got out of the birthplace, too. Specifically, quite a number of the H. sapiens
set out on a journey about eighty thousand years ago and migrated to various places.
A series of migrations of our ancestors finally resulted in the spread of the H. sapiens
all over the world: It is estimated that they have reached the southern tip of the South
American continent around 13–15 thousand bce [1–5]. This may historically be the
first globalization of the Homo in terms of geography.
During this geographical migration, their survival was dependent on collecting and
hunting as they had been doing in Africa. Eventually, some of them began to cultivate
a plant, who decided to stay rather than to continue migration. One probable place
where the agricultural activity has started is the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East [3,
4, 8]. When the hunting and gathering economy had been predominant, people were
forced to move, chasing the catch and looking for the wild eatable plants. Agriculture,
even with its primitive techniques, enabled humans to settle down at a place where
flatlands and water were available. The globalization of agriculture began then, and
it was accompanied by the domestication of a few animals as well as several plants.
Finally, the agricultural revolution had afforded an extra-economic condition, which
resulted in the prosperous ancient civilization at three areas in the world; the Tigris–
Euphrates basin, the Indus basin, and the Hwang Ho (the Yellow River) basin. At the
time, people invented metallic devices, at first bronze and later iron wares, in addition
to those made of stones. Thus, globalization by people’s migration has given rise to
the agricultural revolution, which further resulted in civilization [2–5, 8]. Sometime
during this development, it is estimated that invention of language (and speech) took
place and was playing a decisive role in promoting the process toward civilization,
as well as transportation (i.e., migration).
The present authors have discussed sustainable development (SD) and considered
the relationship of SD with two technical factors, i.e., transportation and information
[8, 9]. Globalization and SD are different concepts, but the two are a general idea representing the dynamic social tendency, which is much influenced by the development
of technological progress. Globalization is the oldest social trend originated from a
primitive society in the period of the Stone Age as described above. The beginning of