THE SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF EVOLUTION

TO differentiate from other species – to gain a selective advantage over the control of resources – homo sapiens had to find a way of escaping from the iron laws of nature. Instincts – those laws in action – had to be complimented with, and where possible modified by, rules of behaviour that gave rise to culture.

In achieving this mission, humans accomplished something unique. A new dimension was added to the life processes on Earth. If Gaia is viewed as organic life in the biosphere, humans added the spiritual, intellectual and aesthetic dimensions that melded with nature to deliver the power to create. The interaction between humans and nature's resources made possible the overlaying of culture on the landscape.

To realise their creative potential, however, humans had to formalise the relationship with nature to make life possible beyond subsistence levels of existence. The crafting of the rules governing that relationship with land – the rights of tenure – was the primary contract on which everything else depended for humankind's journey through time and space.

Nature may be defined as the laws that enabled life to originate and differentiate into species, and for those species to co-exist within shared ecological niches. For species to survive, the biological rules had to ensure that life-sustaining resources were not depleted. Predators, for example, should not be wilful, wasteful destroyers of life. The limits on killing – on violent behaviour in general – should be constrained by reproductive need rather than by unchecked avarice. Feeding off the available life-generating resources had to be kept proportionate to the carrying capacity of stocks within the ecological niche. The biologically-based instincts which secure this balance were wrapped up in what ethologists call territoriality.

Humans as territorial creatures instinctively knew how to distribute their numbers in a balanced way to secure their ability to penetrate deep into evolutionary timescales. The universe they fashioned on Earth – the social universe – depended on the capacity to develop traditions which symbolically fused with, and then superseded, biological instincts. This gave humans a greater range of opportunities. Unlike the rules inherent in DNA-based instincts, the rules of culture were plastic. They could be adapted to meet the opportunities offered by new habitats, first as a result of extensive migration around the globe, then by the intensive use of resources on the home territory, through the advances of knowledge and technology. Early migratory groups, as they evolved into clans and tribes and settled on new territories, defined rules that secured a nurturing relationship with their habitats. This enabled them to peel back ever more layers of nature's riches, to expand the range of lifestyles.

Land rights, which determine the primary relationships, established the ethos of cooperation between individuals at both the material and social levels. The learning process was enriched through the interaction of biological need and the expansion of the universe of the mind that was nourished by the belief in life beyond the confines of Earth. The fusion of the material potential of the ecological niche with spiritual awareness expanded the opportunities within the social universe (Figure 1.1).

Humans continued to share their characteristics with other species. The differences were of degree, in terms of emotions, moral behaviour, the facility to create and use tools, the ability to deceive. But humans were a breed apart because of the capacity to contemplate, anticipate the outcomes of their actions, and articulate ideas that expanded the social universe beyond the material. They understood that there was the "greater good", and the supernatural. Thus, uniquely, humans created the concepts of religion, spirituality, and secular socialbehaviour grounded in a moral framework. This singular facility required a unique imagination. It was central to the terms on which humans distributed themselves through space, by securing the veneration of nature and equalising the access rights of individuals within the bands that roamed in search of new habitats. This spatial distribution fostered equality between people, rather than locking them into an hierarchical relationship. Egalitarianism was derived from the biological past but enshrined in the cultural future.

The structure of this social universe was comprised of three parts. First, the household economy was designed to meet biological needs. From gathering and hunting, and then growing food, people became conscious of the laws of nature. The scientific method (empiricism) was incubated within a folklore framework. Secondly, the social structure: lives were embedded within a formal system of traditions and rules that governed the behaviour of the individual within the group. The third dimension was culture, which encompassed the aesthetics of the new universe.

Culture in its content and scope varied to reflect the accessible resources. But the general rules remained consistent even as humans fanned out around the globe on their journey of discovery. The non-negotiable philosophy underpinning the rules was the one that regulated interaction with Earth. As collective consciousness evolved – with the deepening of morality and intelligence – so culture could be expanded. But at no point could humans abandon their reliance on the integrity of the tenurial customs and laws that regulated their relationship with Earth. When they transgressed those rules, they paid a terrible price – extinction. At all times, they needed to refine ancient wisdom to keep pace with the accumulating knowledge and technologies that expanded the reach of the social universe.

The Components of Social Labour

The key element in the evolution from tribal formations to the earliest urban-based civilisations was the differentiation of the products of labour into their functional uses. The classical concepts of economics may be applied to classify the processes that culminated in achievements such as the city civilisations of Mesopotamia.

The household economy functioned as a self-supporting unit. A share of its product was retained to secure...