Excerpt from: A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life
By Heather Heying & Bret Weinstein

“In our discussion of the first Americans we have already seen one tool in the treasure trove, though it might not seem to be a tool at all. It is a campfire. Humans have been using fire for eons. We have used it to make light and create warmth, to increase the nutritional value of food, and to keep predators at Bay. We have used fire to hollow logs to make canoes, to transform landscapes to new purposes, to soften and harden metal. We have also used fire for something even more important: the campfire is a forge for ideas. A place to discuss berries, rivers and fish. A place to share our experiences, to talk, to laugh, to cry, to deliberate over our challenges and share our successes. From this forge emerged the kinds of ideas that render humans a true superspecies, one that surfs the rules of the universe, kicking up paradoxes in its wake. The exchange of ideas that has occurred around the hearth for millennia is more than simple communication. It is the convergence point of individuals with different experiences, talent, and insight. The linking of minds is at the root of humanity's success. It doesn't matter how smart an individual is, and it doesn't matter how much they know. In nearly every case, when minds come together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For the problems that humanity faces - from which bulbs are safe to eat and how to catch rabbits, to how to equalize opportunity while creating a world that is safe from existential threats - we need more than individuals processing in isolation. If we are to survive the future, we need multitudes of people plugging in and parallel processing. Joining minds in this way exponentially increases the ability of humans to solve problems.”