In this novel the main point that is being expressed is that humankind did not evolve through biological means. Instead we came to our current destination through cultural evolution. The two major advances that were referred to were the agricultural revolution and the time in which culture itself was created via ornaments, paintings, storytelling and crafting.
The agricultural revolution was interesting because it represented the start of mankind starting to actually think of the future. To grow crops and settle down, straying from the mindset of simple hunters and gatherers. The idea of community became the basis for the evolution of many traits and skills. The ability to trade and to communicate became much more important than athleticism, though the latter was still crucial. Traits that allowed humans to participate in society, such as crafting and the arts were being introduced instead of traits common to the hunters and gatherers.
This is important because it shows why humans are the top organisms on the Earth currently. We were not evolutionarily selected because we were the strongest nor the fastest but because we were the smartest. Mankind talked about things that were imaginary, and flirted with ideas of what ifs and maybes. Instead of hard truths that were presented to every organism, we learned to THINK of situations that could happen and prepare for it. The fact that we had options created the gap between humans and the rest of the world.
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I think that it was smart of humans to begin to settle down and grow crops. I do not think that we would have been able to evolve if we stuck to the hunting and gathering way of survival. This is not a practical way of living. After a while, that would have exerted more energy than obtained. Settling down proved to be the best way for the survival of the human population. We still had to work so that our crops would grow, but this was a more efficient method than hunting and gathering. When growing plants, the food was a short distance from us, and we did not have to travel far and waste energy for it.
Was there any information concerning the possible cause for this next step in intellectual evolution? Can a similar leap be on the way for other species? It makes me think a little of a "Planet of the Apes" scenario.
I think that's a really interesting point that you make about humans not being physically superior but mentally superior. I guess I've always thought about it somewhere in the back of my head because everyone hears about humans being superior because of our brain, but I never really thought about why. But our ability to express ourselves to eachother and cooperate is definitely advantageous for us since we obviously aren't physically gifted like lions or cheetahs and maybe hawks (to stray away from idea that only felines are superior). Your post made me think about WHY our brains make us superior to other species. No one ever really goes into detail about that overplayed but absolutely relevant cliche(accent on the e). I think it's our creativity, imagination, and similar goal for a better future that unites us and allows us to be at the top of the food chain.
Letian... do you mean Homo sapiens did not biologically evolve? Or that human civilization is a result of culture evolution. Two different thoughts here.
To say that our species did not biologically evolve, well, I got some DNA of other great apes to show you...
It was great that humans started growing crops because hunting and gathering wouldn't have kept us around for awhile. I think growing crops helped us evolve to be the people we are today. But if we evolved then we eventually have to evolve again? We are evolving gradually but eventually there will be a great change.
Mr. G,
Woops wording was off. I wanna say that the most important changes happened not biologically to us Moderns but rather through these cultural changes. There was a graph that showed that H. Habilis and H. Erectus had relatively large brains as well
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