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189 points docmechanic | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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mattdeboard ◴[] No.43656266[source]
Reinforcing my strongly held belief that what fundamentally sets humans apart isn't spoken language, or tools, or any of that, but rather the fact we write down what we know, then make those writings available to future generations to build on. We're a species distinguished from all others by our information-archival and -dissemination practices. We're an archivist species, a librarian species. Homo archivum. In my opinion.
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1024core ◴[] No.43658352[source]
Isn't writing barely 10,000 years old or so? For the longest time, humans memorized their stories and passed them down to younger generations by rote memorization.
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1. thaumasiotes ◴[] No.43660890[source]
> Isn't writing barely 10,000 years old or so?

No, absolutely not. It's barely 5,000 years old.