Paleoanthropologist says Modern Man weak, gutless dim-witted

By Robert Cribb, Toronto Star, January 8, 2011
We (MEN) are weak, gutless, dim-witted shadows of our past selves.

Such is the kick-in-the-groin conclusion of Peter McAllister, an Australian paleoanthropologist and author of Manthropology: The Science of Why the Modern Male Is Not the Man He Used to Be.
He says his initial attempt, which was to write a testament to the virtues of contemporary man, ended in failure once he reviewed the data.
“I discovered, to my horror, that it’s impossible to write a book about the superior achievements of modern males, because we haven’t made any,” he says provocatively. “From battling to boozing, babes to bravado, there’s nothing we can do that ancient men, and sometimes women, haven’t already done better, faster, stronger and usually smarter.”
From Amazon.com Content Description
Drawing from archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary psychology, the author (a qualified palaeoanthropologist) confirms the awful truth: every man in history, back to the dawn of the species, did everything better, faster, stronger and smarter than any man today. Highlights include: a biomechanical analysis proving that a Neanderthal woman would have beaten Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm-wrestle; a philological investigation of why 50 Cent would bomb in a battle-rap with the poet Homer; and a comparison of injury rates between today's Ultimate Fighting and ancient Greek Pankration. Every modern claim to masculine fame is debunked, from terrorism (why wouldn't Osama bin Laden have made Captain in Genghis Khan's army?) to metrosexuality (why would David Beckham come last in a Fulani tribesmen's beauty pageant?). Even the modern male's bragging rights about parenting are shown up as fraud: Congo Pygmy men carry their sons and daughters for 47 per cent of their waking day, and some Pygmy dads even develop lactating breasts to nurse them. Now that's commitment...
It is difficult to argue with the scientist's evidence and the conclusions he draws about the comparisons between modern man and paleolithic males....and the standards, especially the physical ones, perpetuate the cultural myth of size and endurance in such affairs as military and athletic and sexual. However, when it comes to spending time with our children, that is not a physical strength, per se. It is rather an emotional and a physical commitment....
And modern man has certainly sold out to the pursuit of money and status, both of which will not serve either his family nor his legacy well.