Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
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Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#2The would strongly point to speech developing around that time, but there's no mention of language or speech in the article - odd.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#3I personally believe forms of writing and record keeping are far, far older than we think, having been discovered and forgotten repeatedly. Very hard for something hundreds of thousands of years old to be preserved. Once you can pass on information orally and written through the generations, knowledge will always improve.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#4The would strongly point to speech developing around that time, but there's no mention of language or speech in the article - odd.
What durable artifacts of either are presented in the article? It's paywalled, I haven't read the whole thing.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#5You have to think that there were breakthroughs in communication technology — not just language in general but possibly also one individual who happened to be good at explaining things, either before or after language, who both taught more people, but also taught them how to teach — that led to step changes in technology.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#6The would strongly point to speech developing around that time, but there's no mention of language or speech in the article - odd.
The common ancestor of neanderthals and homo sapiens had a larger than normal hole in the skull (the hypoglossal canal) which contains the nerve bundle going to the tongue. They're pretty sure that was the result of language use before 1M BC. There may have been several stages of later improvement after the initial development.
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#7I personally believe forms of writing and record keeping are far, far older than we think, having been discovered and forgotten repeatedly. Very hard for something hundreds of thousands of years old to be preserved. Once you can pass on information orally and written through the generations, knowledge will always improve.
Record keeping doesn't need writing. Like Incas with their knotted ropes (probably not how how you call it in English).
Also, while some central Asians could read and write (they had courrier relay to deliver letters), their administrative/taxing/military system, the decimal system, worked without any writing for two thousand years, only by making a mark on a wooden branch for each person in an Arban, a mark on another for each Arban, again for each Ja'un, again for each minggan. That's how they counted and this was taught without text for at least 1500 years (Mongols wrote something about it in the 13th century, but this system is at least from 300BCE and the Xiongnus)
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#8You have to think that there were breakthroughs in communication technology — not just language in general but possibly also one individual who happened to be good at explaining things, either before or after language, who both taught more people, but also taught them how to teach — that led to step changes in technology.
Theory: there are no humans without language. Consider: what language do you think in?
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#9You have to think that there were breakthroughs in communication technology — not just language in general but possibly also one individual who happened to be good at explaining things, either before or after language, who both taught more people, but also taught them how to teach — that led to step changes in technology.
Theory: there are no humans without language. Consider: what language do you think in?
Quite a lot of humans don't think in language, or do only some of the time, see e.g. https://www.iflscience.com/people-with-no-internal-monologue..., https://www.livescience.com/does-everyone-have-inner-monolog..., https://www.bustle.com/wellness/does-everyone-have-an-intern....
Re: Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Theory: there are no humans without language. Consider: what language do you think in?
Quite a lot of humans don't think in language, or do only some of the time, see e.g. https://www.iflscience.com/people-with-no-internal-monologue... , https://www.livescience.com/does-everyone-have-inner-monolog... , https://www.bustle.com/wellness/does-everyone-have-an-intern... .
Indeed, there are two types of people in that regard, whose mind is blown (usually) that there is another type. One thinks in words, one has no words but a smooth stream of thought going.