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In the previous chapter, we established that humans are remarkable communicators, with the roots of language deeply wired into our brains and our methods of processing information. We share aspects of this nature with other animals, such as songbirds. There are also limitations within human communities, where individuals or groups have difficulty creating communication channels at a deep level due to differences in processing information—whether because of the brain’s wiring or due to cultural or professional distance. However, what makes us clearly distinct in the realm of communication from anything else that we know is that we seek to communicate as much as possible with our surroundings—even with our dogs, plants, and everyday objects. Children talk to their toys, and I have even seen my flatmate talk to his kombucha jar. Communication appears to be a universal need for humans, to the extent that it seems boundless within human communities. As mentioned, one human community would not only converse internally but would most likely also engage with its neighbours, with multiculturalism inbuilt in who we are.

The history of humanity is not plagued by conflict but by collaboration. As we have seen with the Palaeolithic trading networks—which spanned hundreds of kilometres—rare minerals, tools, shells or bones (what remains in the archaeological record) were found far away from their natural sources. These remains are much further afield and more widespread across the territory than what a human community would likely have been able to travel and carry with them.

The most likely explanation for that archaeological record is that exchange networks emerged through trading, whereby some communities exchanged goods with their neighbours. This exchange would have involved the same goods passing from hand to hand repeatedly until they reached distant places, across tens of pairs of hands.

This trading is not a minor matter; it involves a series of complex cognitive abilities, as well as the will and means to exchange information with neighbours who may have almost no connection to the community where the goods originated. First, one must understand the value and rarity of the materials to be exchanged. Their value might arise primarily from their rarity or usefulness. These are not simple concepts in themselves—rarity and usefulness are deeply contextual. One might combine these concepts under the term “desirability”, but that is an even more complex notion.

In the following texts, we will see how, from these small seeds, it is possible to reach Global communication and it is almost inevitable as proficiency in mutual understanding emerges, consolidates and improves over time.

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