Planning imagined futures through symbols is uniquely human
Evidence
Symbolizing, self-aware, verbally adroit, anatomically modern humans could now integrate their knowledge of social interactions, natural history, and technical skills to do increasingly useful things. They could exchange and refine their own ideas with others: “What’s the best way to cross this river?” They could not just ponder past experiences, but imagine future possibilities as well. They could imagine things that did not yet exist, and they had the audacity to transform their dreams into reality. This capacity to strategize, to make decisions, to design and to plan based on an imagined future represented by words and symbols, is something no other creature on earth was then, or is now, able to do. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 288
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Ceremony functions as a deliberate mnemonic device for sustaining the gift ethic — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1424