如果说工具的制作是前智人(Pre—sapiens)的发明,那么现代人类的第一项可以与之媲美的贡献便是农业革命。毫无疑问,依赖在过去50万至100万年间由前人类(pre—human)和前智人代代相传且进步甚缓的狩猎和采集技术,一个数量不多的人类群体可以生存下去。但是,只有在动植物驯化的基础上,人类文化的突飞猛进才成为可能。富有成效的食物生产技术的获得或许不能预定后来的发展,但这些发展实在来的太快了:第一批城市在几千年的时间内就诞生了,现代工业文明也是在不到一万年的时间里创造出来的。 If the creation of a tool was the invention of a Pre-sapiens, then the first human contribution to modern mankind would have been the agrarian revolution. There is no doubt that a small human population can survive on the basis of hunting and gathering techniques that have been passed down from pre-human and pre-Homo sapiens over the past 500,000 to 1 million years and have been making some progress. However, only by the domestication of animals and plants is it possible that human culture will soar by leaps and bounds. Progressive gains in the production of fruitful food technologies may not be foreseen, but these developments are coming too fast: the first cities were born within a few thousand years, and modern industrial civilization was in less than 10,000 years Created in time.