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Humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge 600k years ago

(news.asu.edu)
273 points geox | 3 comments | 17 Jun 24 21:28 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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gcanyon ◴[18 Jun 24 00:41 UTC] No.40712874[source]▶
You have to think that there were breakthroughs in communication technology — not just language in general but possibly also one individual who happened to be good at explaining things, either before or after language, who both taught more people, but also taught them how to teach — that led to step changes in technology.
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davidmnoll ◴[18 Jun 24 03:38 UTC] No.40713840[source]▶
This was at least 200k years before the advent of speech if you go by the hyoid bone evidence.
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1. stubish ◴[18 Jun 24 06:07 UTC] No.40714522[source]▶
I would consider this evidence that language predates human vocalizations. We already know deaf children will invent signs and gestures to communicate, and language not dependent on a hyoid bone. Do we have any way of dating the relevant neural structures through genetics?
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2. throwaway87651 ◴[18 Jun 24 09:31 UTC] No.40715676[source]▶
FOXP2 was thought to be the genetic basis for language, but this has been overturned[1]. As far as I know there isn't a good candidate for a gene selected for language.

[1] https://www.the-scientist.com/language-gene-dethroned-64608

3. davidmnoll ◴[18 Jun 24 12:50 UTC] No.40717220[source]▶
I think we’d have trouble because we’d have to tie the gene to a specific linguistic cognitive function. My hypothesis is that humans configured themselves into self-replicating group structures I’d call institutions, and language evolved as a way to facilitate that. These institutions exhibit all the thermodynamic properties of life, and they have goal directed behavior independent of individual humans.