We aren’t meant to go it alone. We are pack animals. We don’t have claws and we are weak
We aren’t meant to go it alone. We are pack animals. We don’t have claws and we are weak as animals go. Our body gave up its power to our brains a million years ago. What sets us apart is our superpower: cooperation. . Have any of y'all picked up the amazing new book Sapiens? It’s about the evolution of human beings. It says the thing that set us apart from the other animals was our ability to believe. With language, we can construct unifying ideas like Religion and Country. And we can spread these constructs through stories we tell ourselves. Words that organize what we observe and experience. Animals, at best, can move in packs of a few thousand. At best. Birds. Ants. And they respond to crisis with instinct, not reason. But humans, hell… we can unify in the millions. The United States doesn’t exist. From a satellite, it has no shape but where the water ends and the land begins. This massive nation exists only in the shared belief of millions and billions of people that it is even a thing. Walmart doesn’t exist. Apple doesn’t exist. Money doesn’t exist. We just all believe they do, and therefore they do. . How wild is that. . When we argue about America, we argue about an idea, not a thing. We debate a belief. That’s why so many people can see different things. It’s constructed in their heads. It is what they believe it is, or in the eyes of history: it is what the most people believe it is. . One human would come to a wide river or bay and stop. She would be stumped and trapped. Give her a tribe, a language, and a common desire: and they can build the Golden Gate Bridge. They can land on the moon if they want. . Next time you’re with your friends, and you have inside jokes and a plan… take a mental note: you are exercising a superpower. You are casually engaging in the skill that took over the world, and could destroy it. You are playing with an explosive energy that could lead us to Mars. Also, America doesn’t exist. . Whoa. . : @whereissionnie #sapiens -- source link
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