Humans are social creatures and early man depended on his cohorts to obtain food, construct shelters and protect the clan from predators. The importance of each individual was surely recognized and, despite their limited resources, I suspect our ancestors acknowledged their dependence on fellow humans and on their natural environment.
Throughout most of our early history, survival was the primary focus and there was little to distract humans from that imperative. Eventually, spawned by our creativity and imagination, mysticism entered our world and, much later, we engaged in domestication and agriculture. Finally, the industrial and technologic revolutions molded human society, bringing both advantages and threats to the welfare of our planet.
Over time, we humans created a civilization in which consumption, greed, zealotry, intolerance and discrimination have played an increasing role. Liberalism, which characterized early human society, has become a target of the rich and powerful and social support systems have been marginalized. So too, our close connection to nature has steadily diminished; the importance of military might and corporate profits has come to outweigh our focus on conservation. In effect, the future of our species has been imperiled by both the achievements and delusions that our large brains enabled.
