It wasn’t much, but it was enough to begin untethering ourselves from our East African womb, and indeed any other ecological niche. Things got more impressive, from creating fire to cooking food. Eventually, we migrated out of Africa in successive waves, our first direct Homo sapien ancestors making the journey as little as 100,000 years ago. Then, 40,000 years ago, something almost unbelievable happened. They appeared suddenly to have taken up painting and sculpture, creating fine art and jewelry. No one knows why the changes were so abrupt, but they were profound. Thirty-seven thousand years later, we were making pyramids. Five thousand years after that, rocket fuel.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough to begin untethering ourselves from our East African womb, and indeed any other ecological niche. Things got more impressive, from creating fire to cooking food. Eventually, we migrated out of Africa in successive waves, our first direct Homo sapien ancestors making the journey as little as 100,000 years ago. Then, 40,000 years ago, something almost unbelievable happened. They appeared suddenly to have taken up painting and sculpture, creating fine art and jewelry. No one knows why the changes were so abrupt, but they were profound. Thirty-seven thousand years later, we were making pyramids. Five thousand years after that, rocket fuel.