Alkahest
Banned
Humans virtually indistinguishable from us have existed for about 200 000 years. Even the most conservative estimates (the Great Leap Forward theory) place the appearance of behaviorally modern humans about 50 000 years ago.
... so why did civilization as we understand it, with cities and writing and the whole shebang, only appear roughly 6000-5000 years ago? Was it really necessary for humans as smart as we are to take several tens of thousands or possibly over a hundred thousand years to develop all the necessary ingredients for an urban civilization? What prevented us from creating a city-dwelling civilization tens of thousands of years earlier than we did? Was it the climate? Or did it take such a long time to fill the suitable river valleys with enough people to make cities necessary?
... so why did civilization as we understand it, with cities and writing and the whole shebang, only appear roughly 6000-5000 years ago? Was it really necessary for humans as smart as we are to take several tens of thousands or possibly over a hundred thousand years to develop all the necessary ingredients for an urban civilization? What prevented us from creating a city-dwelling civilization tens of thousands of years earlier than we did? Was it the climate? Or did it take such a long time to fill the suitable river valleys with enough people to make cities necessary?