Humanity has created an artificial world, with artificial food, artificial homes and an artificial lifestyle. Definitions of artificial include: ‘made by human skill’, ‘produced by humans’, ‘imitation’, and ‘lacking naturalness’. We’ve created a world that is ill designed for our actual needs, the needs of other species and the planet at large.
We are first and foremost, animals. This is sometimes difficult for humans to swallow because we see ourselves as separate and somewhat superior to the natural world. The natural world is something we purposefully seek out to enjoy the benefits of it, to holiday in as an escape from our everyday realities and at the same time, exploit. Majority of people will feel calm and at peace in nature, but also somewhat uncomfortable because it is not our everyday habitat.
Artificial Food
Cooking food is not something done by other species. The domestication of fire is thought to have occurred 1 to 1.5 million years ago by earlier species. Homo erectus’ use of fire is well documented. Artificially controlling fire was a great leap forward as it allowed the Homo genus to rise in the food chain. Fire was used for warmth and protection against predators. It would have brought social elements which as we know, increases brain capacity and connections.
Cooking food allows for easier digestion of food stuff, the body has less breaking down to do compared to raw foods. Also it would have opened up the variety of foods and nutrients available as many raw things would have been inedible for humans unless cooked. Cooking preserves food so this would have begun the idea of accumulating resources, to a degree.
While cooking food still retains the natural form of food to a degree, our modern day version of food is highly processed to the point that it would never be found in nature. Yes we can combine ingredients to form a soup of vegetables and beans, however the advent of fast food, carbonated drinks, sweets and chemicals all add a layer of consumption that is unfounded in nature.
We have also taken the things in nature and refined them, concentrated them and the effect it has on our systems. Our bodies are not well adapted to refined versions of natural things, the body will in some ways, overreact and then has to work harder to come down to a state of homeostasis, balance. This isn’t just applicable to food, but also to other triggers like gaming, sex, drugs and other rewards, igniting the reward circuit far more potently and artificially than we are equipped to deal with.
First Artificial Items
The earliest examples we have are tools, primarily stones being carved or struck into objects used for various purposes other than as a stone. This could be for cutting food, for hacking plants or other species to death. Tools date back millions of years which then developed into weapons and got more sophisticated with the likes of Homo sapiens.
If other things were made out of organic material, they would have biodegraded by now so it is difficult to say whether baskets, pots for food or clothing were made from leaves or other organic material.
Arts and Crafts
We then move onto self-expression. The first pigments are thought to have been ground down around 100,000 to 150,000 years ago. This is simply grinding minerals using stones and adding a binder to apply the colour to the body, mummies or walls. Jewellery would come into play in the last 70,000 years or so, using natural beads and shells. Musical instruments as well like early flutes. Clothing also came into play around 100,000 years ago. The initial drive would have been warmth and protection in certain habitats, and imagining different uses for animal hides and vegetation.
Religion and Rituals
The earliest shamans discovered date back to 50,000 – 60,000 years. These demonstrate early forms of religion and rituals, using animal bones, sculptures and tools for ritual practices. It wouldn’t be a giant leap to say that these people would have harboured medicinal remedies found in nature, some may have worked and some not. However using nature for medicinal purposes is not limited to humans or even primates. There are loose examples of other species using certain plants and benefiting from the medicinal properties.
However there is an artificial use here of bones and sculptures, for the purposes of the higher spiritual realm, honouring the dead, performing rituals. Other species may have some form of dealing with their dead, however rituals and practices appear to be within our species, and perhaps in some early form, with other Homo species.
Pottery
Pottery includes an array of new artificial ways of living. Bowls to eat from and store food in. Decoration and ornamentation. Discovering new techniques using fire. Using the pots for fermentation like the making of beer, the oldest written recipe known. The oldest known pottery examples date back to 20,000 years ago in China.
Agriculture and Domestication
Agriculture is one of those defining periods that truly began to separate humanity from nature. To purposefully clear vegetation to create fields, purposefully plant seeds and purposefully breed certain traits creates this kind of mental and physical barrier between us and the natural world. Living in purpose built homes with specific family members rather than nomadic lifestyles in tribes, living in caves and fending off the natural land. This divide would only grow as the artificial life took over.
Agriculture happened gradually and began around 10,000 BCE. There is evidence that the Natufians engaged in forms of agriculture 14,000 BCE however they were still hunter gatherers as well. The domestication of plants and animals truly was the breakthrough that drove humanity to where it is today. Artificially choosing plants to domesticate, likely trying many out and failing until finding those more suitable for domestication. To also then selectively breed those plants, favouring characteristics that were beneficial to mankind. The same developed for domesticating animals. Again choosing certain animals and then selectively breeding to favour certain traits. This would form symbiotic relationships between humans and ‘the domesticates’ to the point that now, one can’t survive without the other.
This change would actually reduce the overall quality of the human life, with harder work, longer hours working, less variety of food and more diseases to deal with due to closer contact with other animals. Fields of food would bring pests to the site, which in turn might attract new predators. Humans coming into contact with these animals to keep them away from the precious crop, would have picked up new viruses. And of course with ‘the domesticates’, being in such close contact and breeding animals, would no doubt cause viruses to jump around.
Architecture and Monuments
The earliest known monument is Gobleki Tepe which dates back to 9600 BCE. It is constructed from stone, creating huge pillars in circular and oval formations. They are also decorated with carvings. Stone was the best material to create massive monuments as they clearly stand the test of time.
Early homes for humans and other Homo species would have been caves and rock shelters. Other forms would include digging into the ground itself. For hunter gatherers who were nomadic, they would have fashioned temporary accommodation made from animal hides, branches and plants. Once humans became more sedentary with the advent of agriculture, they would start to turn to more heavy duty building materials like wood, mud and stone.
Mud bricks have been used since 7000 BCE in early Mesopotamia. The bricks were made of mud and straw and then dried in the sun. Later on, bricks would be baked in kilns producing more durable building materials. Stone was generally reserved for the larger monuments that had meaning as it would have required a lot more work to extract, transport, cut and build.
Metallurgy
Metal was commonly used in ancient times in its raw form however when smelting was discovered around 6,000 BCE, it took metal use to another level. Combining metals brings out a whole new variety of emergent properties and uses. There likely would have been a lot of experimentation before the correct temperatures were discovered for each metal, however it changed technology.
Copper was the first to be smelted. This developed into the Bronze Age and eventually the Iron Age, taking technology to new levels and expanding the growing artificial lifestyle.
Chemistry and Alchemy
As well as mixing together metals to create alloys, early chemists and alchemists were learning how to mix other elements together for other purposes. These could have been medicinal as mentioned above. Also for decoration and paint as new formulas were being discovered and created. Brewing new concoctions and creating new minerals for new innovations.
Money
Hierarchy and value are concepts common in other primates however we took it to the next level. Early trading would have happened with foraging communities. It was common for them to get together with other nomadic groups to exchange things. This form of trading wasn’t exactly based on a standard exchange rate, goods that were traded were things like animals, crops or metal and stone that can’t be obtained in certain areas.
Wealth began to grow for a select few once agriculture took off and created surplus resources. This would have allowed certain people to essentially hoard resources, creating stores of wealth they could use to influence others. Inequality of wealth would begin.
As populations and society grew in complexity and size, new systems were needed for trading and exchanging that could allow for a standardised value system. Early forms of coinage were shells however precious metals began to be used as coinage around 700 BCE. Then the advent of paper money and of course, digital.
Scientific Revolution
While there were progressive moments during the civilisations that arose during the first few centuries CE and into the middle ages, the scientific revolution around 1500 CE to 1700 CE was a profound era, pushing humanity further into artificial ways of living and understanding. We discovered more about our place in the grand scheme of life on Earth and in the grander cosmos. In this sense, the barrier that we put between ourselves and nature, would start to breakdown as we learnt how truly connected we are to everything around us.
This era also saw globalisation on scales never seen, connecting countries and continents and showing the beginnings of a global system.
Some key discoveries and moments stand out from this period. The sun is at the centre of the solar system not the earth. We and other planets move in elliptical orbits. Telescope inventions allowed for more detailed and accurate observations of the night sky. Laws of gravity and motion were discovered. Chemical elements were noted and arranged. Anatomy and taxonomy developed, cataloguing species and the differences between them.
This period of new discoveries and understanding wasn’t necessarily fully appreciated or accepted at the time, as it greatly challenged the classic teachings of previous eras. However it lay the groundwork for understanding humanity’s place and connection with the natural world. It also led the way for future innovations, leading us deeper into an artificial way of life.
Industrial Revolution
This time of humanity’s history begins around mid-18th century, just after the scientific revolution and goes all the way into our modern time, leading to the technological revolution. This is sometimes coined to be as life changing for humanity as agriculture was. The transition from hand to machine and the sheer scale of producing goods and resources, creates whole new levels of consumerism, wealth and inequality, now in the hands of inventive entrepreneurs. This would transform the landscape of lifestyle, creating towns and cities around industry and factories, the working day, more health problems for the masses and the development of unions, protests and eventually revolutions.
It began in Britain and spread from there, where things made by hand were now being manufactured to scale by machine. There were advances in chemical processing, building on the early work of the alchemists. There were advances in power supplies like water and steam, building on the power of animal domesticates. Iron and steel production would transform the building industry building on earlier experiments with metallurgy and mud bricks for building homes. Textiles would be the first major industry to utilise machinery and increase output, creating new economies.
Technological Revolution
This supposedly begins around late 19th century and into the 20th century. This would lead to the information age. This age brought new levels to globalisation that began in the scientific revolution. This was also the time of the railway, electricity, coal and oil power. Communication would improve with the telegraph, telephone and radio. We also get machines for making paper, industrial printing press and new drawing materials.
Electricity would push things even further, laying the foundation for home appliances changing the way we live in our homes. Also for technology, computers, the internet and phones.
Information Age
As we get into the 21st century now, our place in the grand scheme of life and the cosmos is becoming a bit clearer. With advances in genetics we understand who some of our ancestors are, the tree of life and where we sit in it. We understand our connection to the natural world and the affect we are having on it. We understand the need to shift the way we are doing things. Not just for our survival but for the planet and the millions of species we have brought to the brink of extinction. Not to mention the ones we have already driven to extinction.
Artificial life will expand, robotics, advanced machinery, AI, processed foods. There is some hope in the air such as vertical farming options, which minimises the space for agricultural land. Or utilising other sources of immense natural power for electricity and replacing gas.
We understand the need to change our industry and everyday lifestyle to benefit who we actually are as Homo sapiens, but also to the benefit of the natural world that we are a part of. The barriers that were put between us and nature with the advent of agriculture, is beginning to be noticed.
However the artificial world we have created, has consumed us. We cannot imagine living in another way. And yet, we will have to try something otherwise we will drive ourselves and other species to extinction for our obsessive desire of the artificial.
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