The Roots of Human Shared Reality

Abstract

Abstract Human evolution has been described as the development of our special intelligence. From Homo erectus, we evolved into Homo sapiens (archaic sapien) around 200,000 years ago, then into Homo sapiens sapiens (modern sapien) around 30,000 to 50,000 years ago—human beings becoming “wise” (sapiens) and then “the wisest of the wise” (sapiens sapiens). But human evolution is also a story about evolving motivation and, especially, evolving shared realities. Around a million years ago, Homo erectus learned to control fire that extended the day and changed the social interactions that were possible at night. In addition, learning to cook with fire led to division of labor and new shared coordinated roles. More generally, the new tools, practices, and technologies became sufficiently complex that they needed to be taught by an expert to a learner—shared reality creation from the teacher–learner relationship. Fast forward to modern sapiens who lived in organized settlements and traded with other communities over long distances. This required trust, which required shared beliefs (e.g., common gods). The ability to share myths is also found when a language community agrees upon the (arbitrary) names for things. Finally, in the Agricultural Revolution around 10,000 years ago, domestication of animals and plants increased the food supply that allowed great civilizations to emerge. For cooperation and coordination to succeed in such large populations, there needs to be laws and religions—shared realities—that support a hierarchical organization of rulers, craftsman, and commoners. Thus, the shared realties needed by great civilizations created social classes.