Unbound
How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink
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Unbound
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Narrated by:
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Noah Michael Levine
About this listen
Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.
The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, and the technologies of clothing and shelter radically restructured the human body, enabling us to walk upright, shed our body hair, and migrate out of tropical Africa. Symbolic communication transformed human evolution from a slow biological process into a fast cultural process. The invention of agriculture revolutionized the relationship between humanity and the environment, and the technologies of interaction led to the birth of civilization. Precision machinery spawned the industrial revolution and the rise of nation-states; and in the next metamorphosis, digital technologies may well unite all of humanity for the benefit of future generations.
Synthesizing the findings of primatology, paleontology, archeology, history, and anthropology, Richard Currier reinterprets and retells the modern narrative of human evolution that began with the discovery of Lucy and other Australopithecus fossils. But the same forces that allowed us to integrate technology into every aspect of our daily lives have also brought us to the brink of planetary catastrophe. Unbound explains both how we got here and how human society must be transformed again to achieve a sustainable future.
Technology: "The deliberate modification of any natural object or substance with forethought to achieve a specific end or to serve a specific purpose."
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2015 Richard L. Currier (P)2015 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Unbound
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tom O'Rourke
- 29-12-21
An exceptional tome.
Although the bulk of this work is easily absorbed there are far too many words i.e. ' if's, might, may, possible, estimated, assumed, mostly, agreeable ' etc that, as always, affect the psyche of the easily alarmed, that is the young and the generationaly insecure of the global population of innocent ignorance.
In my own 68 years of existence, lifelong learning, experience, observation and understanding, the alarmism of each decade has largely been of insignificance due to the usage of the 'if's, etc. Despite this perpetual repetition I remain a lifelong skeptic and optimist and anti-alarmist.
Tom O'Rourke 1953 ? love always
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- david fryer
- 23-01-22
Fascinating
A fascinating study of the effects of various technologies on human development. Starting with the evolutuon of homo sapiens from earlier hominids we are taken through the influence of such developements as tool making, developement of language, use of fire for warmth, protection and cooking and how these all interacted and influenced and facilitated brain developement in a very plausible thesis. The story proceeds through the introduction of farming, metalworking to the introduction of precision machine making, the age of fossil fuel use and on to electricity and the digital age. Very informative and thought provoking. I'll be listening to it for a second time in the near future.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- hellojoanie
- 10-01-22
I almost didn't listen to this
There are a lot of very critical and negative reviews out there about this book, so many that I almost gave it a miss. I am very glad I decided to make up my own mind.
I enjoyed narration, and the subject captured my interest from the first page. I really found the subject, which is a massive one, to be interesting and informative.
Give it a go, you won't be disappointed.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 31-08-22
interesting
Interesting read, but I have no idea why the Author mentions Jehova God, in the last chapter.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- SiCon
- 31-05-22
Bad science
An interesting history of scientific discovery, until the final chapter when the author suggests man made climate change may be a good thing, as it might stave off another ice age. Clearly he is more of a historian than a scientist.
Dangerous nonsense from someone far less informed than he first appears.
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