Discrimination, segregation, persecution, revolution. These are the four sequential effects of psychological processes that are part of evolved human behavior, and which are part of many other animal species’ as well. The negative outcome from these four effects has reached a point where the evolutionary benefits are no longer compelling. And there have indeed been benefits from these processes, else humans (and other animals) would not have developed the behaviors in the first place. What are those benefits?
[Guest article from Serra Sewitch-Posey. There is more to life that meets your eye.]
On Wednesday after work I stopped by the post office to mail some packages. I was luckily able to visit my favorite post office, which is near my work, tucked away on a side street behind MLK and Broadway. It’s small and cute and the workers there are friendly and relaxed. The one closer to my house has a neglected feel to it, and often has a window or two boarded up due to vandalism; there is a general air of impatience and hostility. This cute one had a long line of people but I didn’t mind at all, and I was fully ready to ride it out for as long as necessary.
I am the proud mother of a gregarious, talkative, energetic and articulate five-year old daughter named Adaline whose light shines in every room she enters. The honor of that role is not lost on me and my gratitude for her runs deep.
I also co-founded and run a strategy execution consulting firm headquartered in San Diego, with a second office in Portland, which employs close to 30 people as of this year. We serve major brands through transformation efforts that require data-driven approaches, process optimization, innovation, strategic program design and change management.
I tell you all this as backdrop to this story. As an entrepreneur, a leader and a strategic consultant, I’m often mentally tapped at the end of the day, and I have trouble sleeping through the night most of the time.
On one particular night, I had awakened around 1:00 a.m. and was having a particularly hard time getting back to sleep. Around 4:00 a.m., I had just fallen back to sleep when my daughter woke up, asking to come sleep with my husband and I, as young kids often do.
Computing power, data storage and transmission speeds have all continually advanced from the moment counting tools were first employed to extend human mathematics beyond our ten fingers. Calculations were aided and our ability to do higher order math improved through the use of tally sticks thousands of years ago. The abacus was introduced in Babylonia nearly five thousand years ago. The slide rule, a major step forward in being able to complete highly complex mathematical problem-solving was invented by William Oughtred sometime between 1620 and 1630, shortly after the introduction of logarithmic numerical scaling.
The first mechanical computation machine was invented by Charles Babbage in 1822. The first electro-mechanical, automatic computation machine, now called a “computer”, was invented in 1941 by Konrad Zuse. In 1945, another significantly improved computer called ENIAC became fully operational, which used the same vacuum tube switches that Zuse employed. ENIAC weighed thirty tons. It was the invention of semi-conducting materials which allowed components to be made smaller, with less heat and faster operational speeds, that began the incredible rate of advancement and reduction in size of computers.
