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
- 80,000 years ago Hunt animals
- 10,000 years ago Domesticate animals
- 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
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 →à Health Issues → Financial Issues → ?
Grunts → Cave Drawings → Words → Language → Morse Code → Telegraph → Telephone → Fax → E-Mail → Instant Messaging → 24/7 Communication → ?
Hunting → Rocks → Slingshot → Sticks →Bow & Arrow → Knives → Weapons → Swords → Guns → Machine Guns → Bombs → Nuclear Bombs → Biological Weapons → ?
Farming → Implements → Animal Domestication → Biological Experiments → Productivity → Bio Engineering → Animal Cloning → Genetic Engineering → Human Cloning → ?
Wheel → Push Cart → Horse Drawn Wagon → Motor Vehicle →Airplane → Rockets → Exploration → ?
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
- Time savings of doing a task 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 them grow?
[themecolor]Dave Baney is the founder and CEO of 55 Questions, LLC. 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.[/themecolor] 55Questions.com
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