# The most mission-critical human invention? (The mission being civilization) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2025, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521 "2025-08-27T08:13:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/81 "2025-08-29T09:27:42Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > It is usually just one extended family with no fixed location or habitation. Deep misunderstanding of the diversity of H-G cultures, here. H-Gs built [Göbekli Tepe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%25C3%25B6bekli_Tepe), the [Early Jomon culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannai-Maruyama_Site), the villages of the [Pacific North West](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Pacific_Northwest_Coast). Sedentary hunter-gatherers living in permanent villages, with complex cultures, were very much a thing. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/82 "2025-08-29T10:06:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There are darn few animals that do toolmaking at all. But of those that do, it amounts to subtractive manufacturing: taking a found object and removing or reshaping some of it so what’s left is more useful for the task. > > Fastening is the watershed change to additive manufacturing; connecting two or more disparate parts. Beavers cut down trees, move the pieces to a selected waterway, assemble them into a dam structure with additional materials that is then maintained over several generations while they construct a home in the resulting empondment. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/83 "2025-08-29T10:46:39Z")
Good one! Nature is more varied than it first appears. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/84 "2025-08-29T11:09:51Z")
I did some googling to find out if there were others of like mind with myself, and you apparently: > **[The Thing about String | EarthDate](https://www.earthdate.org/episodes/the-thing-about-string)** ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/85 "2025-08-29T11:29:10Z")
Writing, because without laws, receipts, and IOUs, civilization is just a bunch of farmers digging in the dirt. But, I don’t believe civilization has faced its most serious mission-critical threat yet—climate change. The wheel got us rolling and writing kept score, but the real mission-critical invention may be AI—because if it can’t outsmart climate change, the only thing left to domesticate will be cockroaches and tumbleweeds. Writing built civilization, but surviving climate change may hinge on AI. The invention many fear could end us might be the only one that saves the planet, with or without us. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/86 "2025-08-29T11:38:13Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > the means to record and widely disseminate **knowledge**. That is tempting because civilization implies an organized aggregate of people. Selecting a single item as most mission critical may be a fools errand. OTH, I like Mark Twains definition - the conversion of luxuries into necessities. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/87 "2025-08-29T12:17:46Z")
I vaguely remember reading some passage, I think it was Le Guin, annoyed at all the dudes (like Kubrick) saying that big long hard sticks used as weapons were the dawn of civilization. She was like, “Freudian much?” and suggested that instead, the dawn of civilization was the pouch–the realization that you could carry more berries if you fashioned a hide or leaf into a portable container. Are there other animals that make pouches to carry useful items? Not animal born with pouches, but who make them? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/88 "2025-08-29T15:10:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I vaguely remember reading some passage, I think it was Le Guin, annoyed at all the dudes (like Kubrick) saying that big long hard sticks used as weapons were the dawn of civilization. She was like, “Freudian much?” and suggested that instead, the dawn of civilization was the pouch “A _pouch?_ Freudian much?” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/89 "2025-08-29T16:28:11Z")
That being the point ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/90 "2025-08-29T17:41:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > vaguely remember reading some passage, I think it was Le Guin, annoyed at all the dudes (like Kubrick) saying that big long hard sticks used as weapons were the dawn of civilization. She was like, “Freudian much?” and suggested that instead, the dawn of civilization was the pouch–the realization that you could carry more berries if you fashioned a hide or leaf into a portable container. That is definitely LeGuin. The Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution; though I can’t remember if that’s the title of the essay. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/91 "2025-08-29T17:49:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The fundamental thing that enables us to alter our environment large scale as the OP suggests, and that separates us from the brute beasts is language. I don’t know about that. I’ve seen many people describe what animals have as communication but it strikes me as defined in a way for the sole purpose of saying “humans have language and animals don’t”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/92 "2025-08-29T17:52:52Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > That is definitely LeGuin. The Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution; though I can’t remember if that’s the title of the essay. Thanks! That’s enough to pinpoint it in a [blog post](https://pshares.org/blog/a-carrier-bag-theory-of-revolution/), with a couple of notes: 1. the Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution is [Elizabeth Fisher’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Fisher_(journalist)), and Le Guin was riffing off of Fisher’s work. 2. Le Guin’s essay was called “[The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/mirror/u/uk/ursula-k-le-guin-the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fiction.pdf),” and applied Fisher’s ideas to the field of fiction-writing. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/93 "2025-08-29T18:07:58Z")
Thank you! I was having trouble finding that. ETA: very much worth reading, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/94 "2025-08-29T18:10:20Z")
Yeah, Le Guin is so snarky and poetic and thoughtful and just all-round delightful to read. I’ve linked to it for an upcoming SF book club discussion of _Children of Mind_, as an interesting lens through which to view the book. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/95 "2025-08-29T18:42:33Z")
The field of paleoanthropology was completely male-dominated until quite recently, when more women appeared and started concentrating on how women lead their lives while the big brutes were out with their pointy sticks. Practically overthrew the field, or with less hyperbole, finally began to properly balance it. Stoid’s insistence of fasteners as the critical point probably is an outgrowth of these studies and they absolutely provide a new way at looking at the past, getting around the easy-to-find palaces and stelai and weapons that are manly man stuff. To be somewhat fair, the scientific techniques for resurrecting and dating plant materials have improved tremendously only recently as well. Is it is the most separating? As many have pointed out, animals understand fastening and apply it multiple ways, from insects to mammals. The concept was all around Homo who lived their lives around animals, and they certainly started making use of it hundreds of thousands of years before needles and thread appeared. I’m biased toward emergence theories, in which many disparate factors must come together before a major development occurs and I’m sure that’s the case here as well. Twice, as I said above: once to separate from animals, once to create what we now call civilization. The two shouldn’t be conflated. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/96 "2025-08-29T18:56:58Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m biased toward emergence theories, in which many disparate factors must come together before a major development occurs and I’m sure that’s the case here as well. Yeah–there are plenty of inventions that “civilization” can demonstrably exist without, agriculture included, but there are also plenty that seem to be a necessity. I don’t know whether language counts as an invention or a behavioral adaptation, and fire isn’t an invention but various means of its control are, and I love the idea of story as an invention but I’m not sure it really is. Civilization by any measure needs all three. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/97 "2025-08-29T19:47:28Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I have believed for years that the single most impactful invention in human history is the _story._ I once read a book where the author claimed, quite convincingly, that prehistoric primates started resembling modern humans the moment they were able to articulate a story. I think our civilization is the fruit of not only complex language but also self-reflection and symbolism. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/98 "2025-08-30T02:08:11Z")
That the story is a fundamental impactful invention makes for a very nice … story. And it reveals the power of story: taking a metaphor and stretching it to cover a subject speaks more deeply and is more easily remembered than a bare recitation of facts. I am convinced of the power of story and I’ve always championed its usage as the way to get the mass to believe in a message. (For good or evil, not that civilization cares about such labels.) My excessively lengthy posts on history are nothing if not little stories, with beginnings, middles, and ends. Yet I’m reluctant to give story foundational power. Power, yes. Story does not depend on the structure of a society, yet it can create a generational culture closely linking all the disparate inhabitants. Not a terrible definition of a civilization. Foundational, though? Language is a necessary precursor to story. A mere recitation of facts, like the instructions for gathering fiber to sew together forming a fastening, can also create a generational culture and moreover has the ability to transcend local needs to reach out to different traditions, perhaps another way to define a civilization. Like a story without an ending, we can’t state what is foundational to civilization without defining civilization. A hundred different definitions leads to a hundred different answers, none of which can truly be defended. Fun for all, of course. But a story lacking facts. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/99 "2025-08-30T06:40:03Z")
Believe me, the irony of “look how important stories are” itself making a good story is not lost on me. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521/100 "2025-08-30T08:26:03Z")
Despite the irony, the more I think about it the more likekly stories seem to be foundational to human civilization. Language and paper have been mentioned as crucial human inventions since they have enabled knowledge to be accumulated and transmitted across long distances or from one generation to another. However, it is narrative knowledge that human beings have been acknowledged to have natural access to. Plus, every cultural structure or particular civilization on Earth is built on a narrative bedrock. Other inventions are important as well, but they merely offer humans the means to achieve their goals. Stories have the power to give people a meaning or a purpose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-mission-critical-human-invention-the-mission-being-civilization/1022521.md?page=6)