IT'S HISTORICALLY BEEN
RECOGNIZED FOR MILLENNIA IN
FACT THAT HUMAN LANGUAGE SEEMS
TO BE A SPECIES-SPECIFIC
PROPERTY, AN IDENTIFYING
PROPERTY OF HUMAN BEINGS.
AND PROBABLY IT'S GENERALLY ASSUMED
TODAY, NOT IN THE PAST, THAT
IT WAS THE EMERGENCE
OF LANGUAGE--
MAYBE FAIRLY RECENTLY, IT COULD
HAVE BEEN AS RECENTLY AS
50,000 OR 60,000 YEARS AGO--
WAS A CORE ELEMENT, MAYBE THE
CORE ELEMENT, IN A SUDDEN
OUTBURST OF THE CREATIVE
CAPACITY THAT'S REGISTERED IN
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD,
IN THE WORKS OF CREATIVE
IMAGINATION, IN ARTWORKS,
RECORDING THE FACTS OF NATURE,
COMPLEX SOCIAL STRUCTURES.
AND ALSO APPARENTLY AROUND THE
SAME TIME, CAME WHAT'S CALLED
THE TREK FROM AFRICA.
WE'RE ALL DESCENDANTS OF
A SMALL, BREEDING GROUP
SOMEWHERE IN AFRICA.
THAT'S WHY HUMANS ARE SO
SIMILAR GENETICALLY.
AND THEY BEGAN SPREADING AROUND
THE WORLD AROUND THE
SAME TIME, 50,000 YEARS AGO, ALL
OVER, THE PACIFIC ISLANDS,
NORTHEAST ASIA, LATER WESTERN
EUROPE, AND NORTH
AMERICA, AND SO ON.
JARED DIAMOND CALLED THIS
A GREAT LEAP FORWARD.
AND IT IS COMMONLY ASSUMED THAT
THE EMERGENCE OF LANGUAGE
MUST HAVE BEEN A CORE
PART OF IT.
IT MADE IT POSSIBLE TO CARRY OUT
PLANNING, INTERPRETATION,
EVALUATION, EXPRESSION OF
THOUGHT, OF VARIOUS COMPLEX
FORMS OF COMMUNICATION,
AND SO ON.
WITHOUT WHICH, IT'S HARD TO SEE
HOW THESE OTHER ACTS OF
CREATIVE IMAGINATION BASICALLY
COULD HAVE TAKEN PLACE.
