For the Animals
An Argument Guide
PT

Home / Weak arguments / Weak or false science

V42

"It's proven that meat played no role in human evolution."

Weak or false science

They make claims about the body or nutrition that the evidence does not support. When they fall, they take the speaker's credibility with them.

Why it is weak

It overstates a real study. Barr and colleagues showed in 2022 that the apparent increase in evidence of meat-eating in the time of *Homo erectus* disappears once research effort is accounted for. That weakens one hypothesis, but it doesn't prove meat played no role.

Our ancestors hunted and ate animals, and that is well documented. Denying it overreaches in the opposite direction and gives the other person an easy rebuttal.

How to say it better

The exact role of meat in evolution is debated, and cooking food, including plants, is another strong explanation. But the main point is different: what helped our ancestors survive doesn't tell us what to do today, with alternatives.

See also