Accidental progress

Speak your way to the top

Some question the level of our superiority claiming that dolphins, pigs, and chimpanzees are more intelligent than we give them credit for. Even the humble house cat has an ability to be grumpy when it senses we are packing for another holiday. Chimpanzees will use sex like we do to get attention - with their privates glowing bright red, legs wide open, laying partially back between the branches of the tree. There are quite a few things that put them on par with us. Namely, their use of sex to gain power and favour, scolding their infants plus teaching children the tricks of many trades. They understand one another quite well but have not been seen writing about it. They may never arrange prose as neatly as you and I, but other animals do communicate admirably.

Animals evolve when they have sufficient opportunity. Space and a level of peace. There is not much of that to foster another equivalent species whilst we hog everything. Would it make a difference to your world view if there were more than one human equivalent around? What if the Neanderthals lived side by side with us the homo sapiens? What if there were three other species with pretty much the same capabilities as each other. Or are they? We might simply assume we are all the same. Only by pure misfortune, a minor string of events led to this lonely species being one that stands out.

Mankind monkied about for generations, countless generations before distancing themselves as top primate. With new tools, more knowledge, progress has been swift but to make real headway a lot of force, violence and quashing of uncertainty is needed to get the bulk to fall in line with the leaders.

A termite went to see the toppity termite to get approval for a new construction. Yes, you can, go ahead but make sure you create plenty of parking spaces for the disabled and allocate a few levels for the underprivileged. Also, I want to see that it doesn’t cast a shadow over the ant’s nest over there. The power of being able to talk to one another is not to be underestimated. You can’t even think without language. Wrong. Picture an object. Rotate it and work out what will fit and where it will reside. Some people can’t do this, that is true. There are those with limited or no visualisation capabilities. Can you count without saying 1, 2, 3... in your head? Picture an apple, think of a pair of pillar boxes, a trio of rings and a table with four legs. Now move from one image to another.