Matter, energy, time, and space came into being about 13.5 billion years ago, after an event we call the big bang. The story of the fundamental properties of our universe is called physics. After approximately 300,000 years, matter and energy began to combine into complex formations, that is, atoms, which further combined into molecules. The story of atoms, molecules and their interactions is called chemistry. About 3.8 billion years ago, on the planet known as Earth, certain molecules joined together to form extremely large and complex entities, the so-called organisms. Biology tells us about them. About 70,000 years ago, organisms belonging to the species Homo sapiens began to create even more complex structures, which are called cultures. The story of the successive development of human cultures is called history. The course of history was determined by three important upheavals or revolutions: the first impetus to history was given by the cognitive revolution that took place 70,000 years ago.

The agricultural revolution accelerated the development of history about 12,000 years ago. It is quite possible that the scientific revolution, which took place only 500 years ago, will end the development of history and give the beginning of some completely new development. This blog series tells the impact of the three mentioned revolutions on man and other organisms around him. Humans have walked the earth long before history began. Animals very similar to modern humans appeared about 2.5 million years ago. However, countless generations of them did not stand out from the countless other organisms that lived in the same area. If you walked around East Africa some 2 million years ago, you would have seen a number of familiar human features: anxious mothers clutching their babies and a group of children carelessly splashing in the mud; temperamental young people who oppose the dictates of society, and tired old people who want only one thing – to give them peace; bulging chests of energetic men trying to impress the local beauties, and the wise elders of the tribe, who have seen it all before many times. These ancient humans loved, played, sought intimacy, and competed for status and power—but so did chimpanzees, little chimpanzees, and elephants. Our ancestors were no different from others.

No one, not even themselves, suspected that one day their descendants would land on the moon, split the atom, decode the genetic code and write the history books. The most important thing that can be said about prehistoric people is that they were insignificant animals, affected by their environment no more than gorillas, ion-beetles or jellyfish. Biologists divide organisms into species. Animals are said to belong to the same species if they are attracted to mate and can produce fertile offspring together. Horses and donkeys share a common ancestor and are quite similar physically. However, they feel almost no sexual desire for each other. Under certain circumstances, they mate, but their offspring, called mules, are infertile.

Donkey DNA mutations never cross with horse and vice versa. As a result, these two types of animals are considered two different species with separate evolutionary paths. The situation is completely different in the case of a bulldog and a spaniel: outwardly they look nothing alike, but they are representatives of the same species and share the same set of DNA. They will happily mate, and when their offspring grow up, they will do the same with other dogs and even more puppies will see the world. Species that share a common ancestor are grouped into genera. For example, lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars are all different species of the same panther genus. Biologists name organisms by a combination of two Latin words: the first part of it here indicates the genus, and the second – the species. For example, lions are called Panthera leo (a species of lion (leo) belonging to the panther (Panthera) genus). I tend to think that everyone reading this blog is Homo sapiens — the intelligent people (sapiens) of the human (Homo) race. Tribes, in turn, are grouped into families, such as felines (lions, cheetahs, domestic cats), canines (wolves, foxes, jackals) and elephants (elephants, mammoths, mastodons).

All species within a family are descended from a single progenitor, matron, or patriarch. For example, all felines, from the cozily purring domestic cat to the most ferocious lion, all came from the same ancestor that lived some 25 million years ago. Homo sapiens also has his family. Although this seems to be a self-evident fact, at certain points in history it has been kept as the greatest secret. For a long time, Homo sapiens tried to distance himself from all other animals, preferring to consider himself an orphan who has no family, no sisters, no cousins, and most importantly, parents. But the reality is different. Like it or not, we are part of a huge and extremely noisy family of great apes. Our closest living relatives are chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Our closest relatives.