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What Is A Nation?
An idea can only be as large as our individual ability to encompass it
We, homo sapiens, are a group species. As we lack powerful muscles, bone-crushing jaws, and sharp tearing claws, our survival depends entirely on being able to operate in groups. Today we often think of these groups in terms of nations.
Like all group species, we require a group leader to provide direction. For 95% of our evolutionary history we lived within small hunter-gatherer groups in which rudimentary decision-making was “good enough” for almost all situations the group would encounter. And on those occasions where a group leader was so incompetent that the group perished, there were plenty of other groups of early humans nearby to occupy the newly-vacant territory.
So we’ve always lived in groups. Arguably we’re just as much a group species as bees and termites and wildebeest. Despite endless Hollywood fantasy, the lone human is an impossible thing.
After the end of the last ice-age around 12,000 years ago, our lives changed forever. Due to chance genetic mutations occurring in certain species of grass, it became easier to separate the energy-rich seed kernels from their protective coverings. This in turn meant that our ancestors found it easier to use these grass seeds as a reliable form of nourishment. Even today, that momentous change remains embedded in…
