The Spark of Life: A Novel Perspective on Human Evolution

“The US fire departments responded to 386,500 home fires. Home fires killed 2,755 people and injured 13,160. Someone was injured in a reported home fire every 40 minutes. Roughly eight people died in home fires every day. A fire department responded to a home fire every 82 seconds.”

If you pay close attention, this gives only the statistics for US home fires in 2008. Expand this to the rest of the world including the third world countries that do not have the same firefighting and safety precautionary systems, we can only start to imagine the damage fire can cause. Fire is dangerous. A spark is all you need to ignite a whole city and to rob 142,807 people of their lives.

Richard Wrangham

            Yet, with all the damage and harm associated with fire, I am awed by the power of fire. It is an amazing force of nature, the most feared out of the five elements, and one that is often seen as a means of an end or related to death. However, like biological anthropologist Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, I also see fire as a symbol of a new beginning and as the trademark distinguishing humans from all other forms of living beings. 

In his book “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human”, Wrangham poses a “new theory of evolution”. He argues that the ability to control fire to allow cooking is what truly set humans apart from all other species of living organisms. “1.8 million years ago, we learned to cook. Cooking improves the caloric value of food, and widens the range of what is edible. It literally powered our evolution” (Ings). Anatomically, cooking has allowed the evolution of the bipedal stance and more importantly, the decrease in jaw and gut size because cooking makes food easier to chew, nutrients easier to absorb, and increases the range of safe edible food leading to the dramatic increase in brain size from the excess energy. This increased our capability to think and to reason without just following the innate behavior of basic survival programmed into our bodies like that of other animal species (Wrangham).

"I believe the transformative moment that gave rise to the genus Homo, one of the great transitions in the history of life, stemmed from the control of fire and the advent of cooked meals." 

- Richard Wrangham

His book “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human”

Socially, cooking helped divide the roles of men and women by requiring the physically stronger men to go out and hunt while women gather and cook - a division of labor still apparent in today’s society. It also introduced the concept of socialization as humans congregated around a fire leading to calmer temperaments. Fire is the bare necessity for cooking and early socialization. It is what makes us human.

Wrangham's interesting take has really sparked interest in the scientific and intellectual community, bringing to light, a novel perspective and possibilities of new theories for this great phenomenon of human evolution.

              In addition, I would just like to point out something that I personally find fascinating. Fire can be seen as one of the many dichotomies of life. As long as we are able to tame fire, we can use it to our advantage to create amazing civilizations. However, if placed into the wrong hands or handled carelessly, fire can cause destruction beyond measures. Fire is a power and like all powers, if harnessed with the right intentions, it can create opportunities and contribute to the well being of human society. This is why fire astonishes me.

By Stephanie Wu

 

Sources Cited:

Ings, Simon. “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham: review." The Telegraph. October 4, 2009.Web. 10 February 2011. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6250132/Catching-Fire-How-Cooking-Made-Us-Human-by-Richard-Wrangham-review.html>. 

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). "Fast facts about smoke alarms and fire." National Fire Protection Association. 2011.Web. 10 February 2011. <http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=2022&itemID=47397&URL=Research/Fire%20statistics/Fast%20facts%20about%20smoke%20alarms%20and%20fire>.   

Wrangham, Richard, ed. Catching Fire: How Cooking made Us Human. New York: Basic Books, May 2009. Print.