As usual, microbes led the way. Bacteria have swarmed in intense
networks for 3.5 billion years. Then a hierarchical form emerged
with the first nucleated cells that were made up of an enclosed
society of formerly independent organisms. That’s the pattern
for the evolution of information, Alex Wright said. Networks
coalesce into hierarchies, which then form a new level of
networks, which coalesce again, and so on. Thus an unending
series of information explosions is finessed. In humans,
classification schemes emerged everywhere, defining how things
are connected in larger contexts. Researchers into “folk
taxonomies” have found that all cultures universally describe
things they care about in hierarchical layers, and those
hierarchies are usually five layers deep. Family tree
hierarchies were accorded to the gods, who were human-like
personalities but also represented various natural forces.
Starting 30,000 years ago the “ice age information explosion”
brought the transition to collaborative big game hunting, c