deepstash
Beta
Ancient humans learned to teach when they invented complex tools
The feedback loop between tool-making and teaching
Our ancestors could have started to make modest improvements to simple tools without the need for teaching.
However, as tools became more complex, teaching started to become beneficial. Improved teaching skills would, in turn, allow for the creation of more complex and efficient tools.
33 SAVES
192 READS
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
4
Key Ideas
Paleo concept
Humans evolved on a diet very different from today's eating habits. To be healthier, leaner, stronger and fitter, we must re-think our diet and remove some of the food groups we ...
What to eat
- Animals (especially a "whole animal" approach, including organs, bone marrow, cartilage, and organs).
- Animal products (such as eggs or honey).
- Vegetables and fruits.
- Raw nuts and seeds.
- Added fats (like coconut oil, avocado, butter, ghee).
What to avoid
- Grains, although research suggests eating whole grains improve our health and appear to be neutral when it comes to inflammation.
- Heavily processed oils, such as canola and soybean oil.
- Legumes, although research suggests the benefits of legumes outweigh their anti-nutrient content. Cooking eliminates most anti-nutrient effects. Some anti-nutrients may even be good.
- Dairy.
7
Key Ideas
Science providing anwers
Despite the advances in science over the past century, our understanding of nature is still limited. Scientists still don't know what the vast majority of the universe is made up of or how cons...
Mysterian arguments
"Mysterian" thinkers give an important role to biological arguments and analogies.
Late philosopher Jerry Fodor argued that there are bound to be thoughts we are unable to think. Similarly, philosopher Colin McGinn claimed that all minds suffer from "cognitive closure" about particular problems. Just as animals will never understand prime numbers, so human brains are unable to consider some of the world's wonders.
Mysterians and pessimism
Mysterians present the question of cognitive limits in fixed terms: either we can solve a problem, or we will never be able to.
A possibility that eludes mysterians is one of slowly diminishing returns. We keep slowing down, even as we exert more effort, and there is no point where progress becomes impossible.
3
Key Ideas
Inventions Come in Stages
Invention often comes in stages and phases, when existing technology is looked at and mixed with new creative insights, a process that sometimes takes thousands of years.
This makes it hard...
The Wheel And The Axle
- The wheel and the axle didn't suddenly spring up, but were a gradual, phased invention, starting with rollers that reduced friction on the ground, and helped the Egyptians and Mesopotamians move heavy objects.
- The oldest discovered axle was found inside a potter’s wheel in a miniature, toy-like form in Mesopotamia. The fact that the center of the wheel is stationary as compared to the circumference is in fact the greatest mechanical insight ever known.
- Combining the wheel with an axle was genius, leading to the invention of the wagon and other transport vehicles.
The Invention of The Full‑Size Wheeled Vehicle
- The name given to the first full-size wheel, according to paleolinguits, was ‘Kweklos’ which meant ‘to turn’.
- The time of this invention is said to be about 5400 years ago, though the exact location of the invention varies from Russia to Slovenia.
- The inventor was a genius in the conception and craft, as he was able to solve engineering, design and woodworking problems to scale up a toy into a full-size wagon.
- It had a profound effect on the productivity of farmers, and it even helped populations move towards other places that were not close to the river and were thus unexploited.