Is There A Climatic Origin to the Rise of the Bicameral Mind
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:08 pm
Regarding the rise of the bicameral mind - is it just a coincidence that 10,000 years ago another dramatic change occurred - one effected the global environment?
A long series of rapid and dramatic cycles in the global environment that had persisted for millions of years suddenly came to an end and the climate of Earth went relatively flat. The climate has remained in that state of evenness to the present time. While we may experience what we think are significant differences in weather, when compared to the dramatic swings that dominated the previous millions of years, the past 10,000 years have been very even.
It has been strongly suggested that this climatic evenness is what allowed for the rise of what we call the agricultural revolution - a revolution that transformed humans and human society. Before that shift to an even climate, it would have been impossible to have agriculture on any significant scale.
As food became more available the human population rapidly expanded. But the genetic base associated with that expansion would have been from a fairly small number of people who had undergone a shift that allowed them to interact with each other in a very different way than they had as hunters - in a way that was far more cooperative and complex.
I am suggesting that the appearance of this phenomenal environmental quiescence is directly responsible for the evolution of the bicameral mind and the associated human behavior.
A long series of rapid and dramatic cycles in the global environment that had persisted for millions of years suddenly came to an end and the climate of Earth went relatively flat. The climate has remained in that state of evenness to the present time. While we may experience what we think are significant differences in weather, when compared to the dramatic swings that dominated the previous millions of years, the past 10,000 years have been very even.
It has been strongly suggested that this climatic evenness is what allowed for the rise of what we call the agricultural revolution - a revolution that transformed humans and human society. Before that shift to an even climate, it would have been impossible to have agriculture on any significant scale.
As food became more available the human population rapidly expanded. But the genetic base associated with that expansion would have been from a fairly small number of people who had undergone a shift that allowed them to interact with each other in a very different way than they had as hunters - in a way that was far more cooperative and complex.
I am suggesting that the appearance of this phenomenal environmental quiescence is directly responsible for the evolution of the bicameral mind and the associated human behavior.