Desmond Morris does a nice job of articulating some of the deeper implications of the recent hominid discovery in this op-ed:

These hunters existed as recently as 12,000 years ago and, who knows, living groups of them may still be lingering on in odd corners even today.

This is shattering news and will create fascinating problems for both political and religious leaders.

Suppose for a moment that a living tribe of these beings is discovered, how should they be treated?

Are they merely advanced apes, or are they miniature humans?

If there are any left, I imagine they'll be found in the next few years. Nobody thought to actually look for strange humanoids in the manifold islands of Indonesia, but now that we know there's a possiblity... well, let's just say we didn't take over the planet because we sucked at hunting.

All this time I thought the world's cultural shatterpoint would be when the first real flying saucer's ramp hit the ground. I had no idea it could be hiding somewhere in an east-Asian jungle.