Mood: mischievious
A few years ago I wrote about that which makes us human: language. Words, if you will. One word in particular, as I'll explain in a bit.
First, let's look at a primative group of people, the Bushmen of the Kalahari. They are physically modern humans and the differences between them and groups elsewhere are subtle. I started looking at genetic geneology last year, tracing first my paternal line and then my maternal line back into prehistory. We all began in Africa. Several lines (haplogroups, people sharing the same genetic mutations) remained in Africa while a single line emerged about 60,000 years ago to populate the rest of the world. Somewhere, that single departing line learned that one word, probably while still in Africa. Of the lines that remained in Africa, the Bushmen, in particular, reflect the older development with the lack of that one word.
The Bushman language is rich in sounds, probably over 150 of them. The name for most creatures is an accurate rendition of the sound they make. A word for rain might sound like rain falling. For comparison, English, which has actively pursued other languages in order to steal from them, has about 47 sounds that get used regularly. Hawaiian has fewer than 20 sounds. Most other modern languages fall somewhere between these two. Bushmen learn to speak English; almost nobody else in the world can learn to speak the Bushman language adequately. For the most part, Bushmen can communicate well with the rest of us.
There is only one word that gives them problems: why.
It isn't that they lack curiosity. They can be curious in several ways and about many things. But their religion is indifferent and they have no drive to discover the reasons things are the way they are. The concept is totally foreign to them.
Somewhere around 60,000 to 100,000 years ago, after we had split from the line the Bushmen continue to follow, a mutation took place with survival value: a deep, abiding seekings for reasons, a chase after explanations.
Asking why led to religion, which has been shown to have survival value regardless of the correctness of the beliefs involved. Just believing in something protects our minds. Asking why has also led to science, with its strict methodology for questioning the correctness of answers it derives. Religion saves us by accepting the answers we devise, science advances us by questioning the answers.
We can map our human migrations by looking at our genes. My ancestors, when they emerged from Africa, spent some time in the Fertile Crescent before moving into Central Europe and Asia Minor. Then they came back to Europe and the latest ice age pushed them into Spain and North Africa about 12,000 years ago. About 5,000 years ago they returned northwards, settling in the British Isles. Roughly seventy percent of the people of Europe belong to Haplogroup R. At the moment, I'm pretty sure I belong in R1b1c, a fairly large group found in Scotland and Ireland and a few other places. During the coming year, I expect the study to be refined and new groups defined. Genetics is becoming more precise.
If evolution of our brains leading to a genetic predisposition for asking why was the defining moment for humanity, I have seen a roadmap leading from the earliest of our kind to myself.