
The Roots of Human Genius Are Deeper Than Expected - georgecmu
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=creativity-roots-human-genius-deeper-than-expected&WT.mc_id=SA_printmag_2013-03
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rblion
500,000 years ago: Hunters used stone-tipped spears. Fire was already
discovered and was probably used to stay warm, cook food, and scare away
predators.

50,000 years ago: Peak of Ice Age. Nethanderals co-exist with our ancestors
who lived in caves. Cave lions, cave bears, and cave hyenas all existed in
this time too.

5,000 years ago: World human population is about 30,000,000. Height of Egypt's
Old Kingdom. Agriculture, social pyramid, and a mystical cosmology are in
place.

500 years ago: Roughly the time of the Renaissance which gave birth to the
scientific revolution which gave birth to the industrial revolution. Together
science and industry form the world as we know it today.

50 years ago: Computers are able to perform algebraic equations, the space
race is in full swing, counterculture revolution is just beginning.

5 years ago: The planet's ecologic and economic systems collide. Our species
is forced to re-examine our core values and start asking the big question of
existence again.

What an amazing chain of events that has led to this moment in space and time.
I wonder sometimes about our ultimate fate and what is our place in the
cosmos, but nothing is concrete. All I know is that nature, culture, and
technology must be in harmony.

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scotty79
That feels kinda depressing. Million years from controlling fire to science.

