THE HUMANITIES AND BREAKTHROUGHS TO CIVILIZATION

STEVE JOBS:  “I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics. Then I read something that one of my heroes, Edwin Land of Polaroid, said about the importance of people who could stand at the intersection of humanities and sciences, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.” ( Isaacson, 2014).

Steve Jobs was a man known for breakthroughs as he stood at that “intersection of humanities and sciences”.  Here early in our own study of the Humanities, we find BREAKTHROUGHS that provided a path for a new type of human society that could progress rapidly:  Civilization.  Chapters 1 and 2 cover several breakthroughs that were pivotal in these developments and in early human progress.

Identify a breakthrough in chapter 1 or chapter 2, using as a guide the EXPLORE list below of possible breakthroughs.  For the breakthrough you identified, briefly discuss what you found most relevant—for example what circumstances might have led to the breakthrough happening where and when it did?  What were the advantages of this breakthrough?  What were the impacts of the breakthrough–both good and bad? What lessons can we learn from this in work today, when someone has a new idea in the workplace–a new method, a new technical help, or a new application of older skills?

EXPLORE

• –first visual art (cave paintings and early figurines; chap. 1, pp. 48; http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-cave-art-debate-100617099/?no-ist ; http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29415716 ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH2bBdT_wAA ),
• –agriculture replacing hunting and gathering (chap. 1, pp. 5-8;  http://history-world.org/agriculture.htm ;   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I ;   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhzQFIZuNFY),
• –the rise of writing (invented for commerce by the way; chap. 2, pp.  35, 39-41; see also 72-3, 77, 105; http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm  ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBKYNVIDuwQ )
• –from simple symbols to complex symbol systems to the efficient alphabet; the rise of record-keeping;
• — the use of metals (copper, bronze, later–iron; chap. 2, pp. 33, 42, 58-59; http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=bba ; http://www.livescience.com/2339-iron-age-changed-world.html )  instead of just stone for tools and implements and weapons;
• — the first calendars (chap. 1, pp. 15-18; http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/spring-equinox-2015-was-stonehenge-ancient-astronomical-calendar-used-predict-eclipses-1492684  ; http://history-world.org/mesopotamiancalander.htm
•  –the first written law codes (chap. 2, pp.  33, 43-45 ; http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp ; http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/d/267/whm.html ; http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-133/Origin-of-Law.aspx  ).
• –record keeping and legal decisions:  University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute: Tablet and envelope at http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/highlights/meso.html ; scroll down to the item called “Clay Tablet and Envelope”. Click on the color and black and white images and read the captions and information.
•  –Other? In chapters 1 or 2, you can identify and discuss some other breakthrough not listed in these bullets points

NO PLAGIARISM