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November 28, 2014

With fire they could project their reach far beyond their immediate grasp,

for one of the foundational properties of fire is that it spreads. Its power lies in its capacity to propagate.

Landscapes that already had fire could be taken over and redirected by anthropogenic burning. Landscapes that lacked routine fire could acquire it. If its firepower allowed humanity to expand, so too humanity became the vector by which fire could propagate into new realms. The two became co-extensive. Humanity carried fire to Antarctica. Fire lofted humanity into space.

Moved by Fire: History’s Promethean Moment—Vol. 2, No. 4—The Appendix

Posted by gerardvanderleun at November 28, 2014 6:40 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

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Posted by: chasmatic at November 29, 2014 6:37 AM

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