The History of Man…What Have We Learned?

If we view the history of man graphically as a piece of 20 foot long rope, then the first 12 feet of that rope would be the Scavenger Man and the next 7 feet would be the Hunter / Gatherer Man and the next 1 foot would be the Agricultural / Farmer and of that last foot 3/8” would be Industrial Man and 1/32” would be Technological Man.

It seems hard to believe when you look at it as a timeline.

Timeframe                                Activity                                             Rope

• 200,000 years ago         Scavenger                                          20’
• 80,000 years ago           Hunter / Gatherer                              8’
• 10,000 years ago            Agriculture / Farming                        1’
• 250 years ago                  Industrial Revolution                       ⅜”
• 30 years ago                    Technology Explosion                    ¹/₃₂”

Timeframe                                Activity

• 200,000 years ago          Run from animals, find food
• 80,000 years ago            Hunt and kill animals for food
• 10,000 years ago             Domesticate animals, raise food
• 250 years ago                   Mechanize animal management processes
• 30 years ago                     Maximize animal productivity

Timeframe                              Activity

• 200,000 years ago        Find food by wandering
• 80,000 years ago          Find food and kill animals by planning
• 10,000 years ago           Grow food and manage animals
• 250 years ago                 Utilize machinery to do work, buy food
• 30 years ago                   Use technology to do work, buy comforts

Grunts → Cave Drawings → Words → Language → Morse Code → Telegraph → Telephone → Fax → E-Mail → Texting → 24/7 Communication → ?

Hunting → Rocks → Slingshot → Sticks →Bow & Arrow → Knives → Weapons → Swords → Guns → Machine Guns → Bombs → Nuclear Bombs → Biological Weapons → ?

Fire → Cooking → Food Safety → Nutrition → Health → Physical Growth → Life Expectancy → Aging → Health Issues → Financial Issues → ?

Fire → Light → Candles → Lanterns → Light Bulb → “More Daylight” → Productivity → Competition → Stress → Health Issues → Financial Issues → ?

Wheel → Pushcart → Horse Drawn Wagon → Motor Vehicle → Airplane → Rockets → Space Travel → ?

Farming → Implements → Animal Domestication → Biological Experiments → Productivity → Bio Engineering → Animal Cloning → Genetic Engineering → Human Cloning → ?

What has changed?

• The speed at which innovation and knowledge advancement happens is approaching a pace that cannot be anticipated
• The shift has been from physical strength and skill to mental strength and skill
• The time savings of doing tasks has not become leisure time, it has allowed for even greater productivity and therefore even more is expected to be accomplished
• Our brains still have a lot of the old hard wiring from our ancestors, so as technology changes rapidly, humans evolve at a slower pace

What’s the message in all of this?  Help your team learn and grow and evolve.  After all we are only 2 feet away from being Hunter / Gatherers.

How can you help your team members grow?

Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC and author of “The 3×5 Coach: A Practical Guide to Coaching Your Team for Greater Results and Happier People”, which is now available in Paperback or a Kindle version at https://tinyurl.com/y8ecykfy

At 55 Questions, we work with successful top executives with a driving ambition to crush their competition.  We help CEOs and Entrepreneurs improve alignment, communication and accountability throughout their organization. www.55Questions.com

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