Imagination is so important to the development of our species, can you imagine what it would
be like if we couldn’t imagine things?
Whoaaaaaaa.
Hello out there in imagination land, I’m Julian and this is DNews.
The human brain is so amazing that we often take for granted just how special it is.
Our ability to think creatively to solve problems makes us a force to be reckoned with.
It’s also enriched our lives giving us music and art.
But it’s something we can do at a level almost no other creatures on earth can, so
why are we so special?
According to Steven Mithen, an anthropologist who specialises in the evolution of the mind
at the University of Reading, we went through 7 steps on the way to being human that let
us have and harness our imagination.
The first step, Mithen says, was developed waaaay back, about 3 and a half million years
ago.
Technically there weren’t people yet but australopithecus, and they started understanding
the Theory of Mind right around the same time Panama was settling into place.
Theory of Mind is the ability to understand that other creatures have thoughts and beliefs
that may be different to our own.
Though after spending 5 minutes on the internet, I’m not so sure everyone has this ability.
The next big development came thanks to Homo habilis’ long path to adulthood.
Researchers think a lengthy childhood and adolescence means they, and by extension we,
have a long time to learn and play without adult responsibilities getting in the way.
It’s called Human Life History.
It’s also the best excuse ever for not leaving college.
Mithen credits Homo erectus with developing Specialized Intelligence about a million years
ago.
Now our ancestors could build specific thoughts into more complex ideas and start to compare
them to other thoughts to form new ideas.
Homo sapiens had finally come onto the scene about 200 thousand years ago, and they developed
the final four leaps to imagination within the last 10 thousand to hundred thousand years,
depending who you ask.
It starts with Language.
Now we can assign sounds to concrete objects and abstract ideas.
This leads to Cognitive Fluidity, where we can use metaphors and symbols to help us understand
and explain an idea.
Those developments segue nicely into step 6.
Now we can clearly communicate an idea to someone else, and they can add their brain
power to the equation.
Mithen calls it the extended mind.
Sharing information and ideas helps them grow and change.
It’s why, in my opinion, the internet is the single greatest invention ever.
Aside from sliced bread, obviously.
Finally modern humans could put all this to use when they developed farming that produced
a surplus of food.
Now that we weren’t moving around all the time and trying to solve our daily problems
of finding food and shelter, we could turn our collective imaginations towards thinking
of new inventions or creative pursuits like art.
And being able to imagine things that seem impossible challenges us to find ways to make
it real.
Like how in Star Trek 40 years ago they all had communicators long before the cell phone
was invented.
Of course, because they had to keep the plot going, Star Trek writers also imagined something
else that ended up happening; no reception.
Thanks, Star Trek.
If you want to learn more ways language advanced the human race, Tara looks into that for you
here.
And what’s an idea you want to get the collective might of the human network behind?
Let us know in the comments, thanks for watching DNews!