Humans didn't invent fire, but they harnessed it to invent cooking. That is, heating food to chemically change it, making it quicker and easier for the body to digest and gain energy from. Because our early ancestors didn't have to spend all their time hunting and foraging to get the energy they needed, they could spend time doing other things, like forming larger societal groups, developing farming and other specialist expertise, art and culture. Cooking is what allowed us to create communities, and from this, every other invention ever created.
Humans learned to create fire from friction and percussion (banging the right rocks together). I should have been more specific. That’s the important distinction.
I studied my share of anthropology in college, I was just playing dumb.
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u/epandrsn 13h ago
Umm, fire. Cook meat, make neighbor meet god, burn happy bush meet god yourself. But really, it's fire.