Where do we come from? Who are we?
Mankind has always wondered, who are we? Where do we come from? Why did we rise above the animals in terms of communication? There have been many answers to these questions, and the subject has been the subject of much attention in both philosophy and science. This post explores these questions.
Tens of thousands of years ago, man's ancestors were wild animals, and we did not rule the planet as we do today. It is likely that if a more evolved, outsider species had looked at the planet then, humanity would not have had such a great future. What has changed? Why did humans rise to the top?
There are plenty of answers to this question, today we'll look at the 'gossip theory', which I first read about in Yuvah Noah Harari's Homo Sapiens. According to the "gossip theory", man has been able to stand out from other living beings because he is the only one on earth who can gossip.
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org.
What is that? Gossip as the saviour of mankind?
There are many creatures on earth that communicate, both on land and in water. From the chirping of birds, to the mewing of cats, to the singing of whales, there are many interesting and varied forms of communication. However, no animal can do what humans do: tell a story.
A monkey can tell another monkey to watch out, lion. Animals can give each other information, but they can't do much more than that. Humans can only tell you things like how Gretel went on a date with Pisiste. It is perhaps because of such rumours that humans started telling stories that built the foundation of human civilisation.
With stories, we could create the common ground of our culture. We could begin to think about life and death. We could create God - or gods in other cultures - which gave us the basis for communities. Or, conversely, has the Almighty given us the ability to recognize his presence and be able to think about other things? Who created whom? To whom, how, according to their beliefs, but the fact is that only we have beliefs. When they search for traces of the first settled humans, they almost always find religious relics. Religion played a crucial role in the emergence from the animal world. The creation of common rules is also based on the spirituality of humans.
The ability to create rules beyond the laws of nature can enable us to play sport. We can play a football match because both sides know and accept the rules. Everyone has a hand, everyone could touch the ball, no natural law forbids it, only the set of rules we have made up in our heads.
We are the same with money, law, taxation or every step of our civilized life. Our ability to communicate beyond what is necessary for survival is the basis of our ability to function together. We have been able to create civilisation, and it may have started because we like to gossip....
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