food crop selective breeding (which I differentiate from modern genetic engineering by the lack of microscopic cutting and pasting of genes) is certainly a triumph of humanity.
personally, I prefer metalworking as one of the great inventions. there's lots of forageable foods until population density starts to conflict with the natural surroundings, and a lot of growing things that can be domesticated by seed collection and deliberate planting/tending.
but yeah, corn is an amazing modification of grass seed heads.
Fun fact - did you know that the seeds of the Teosinte plant, the wild ancestor of Maize, can be popped like popcorn? This explains why the Teosinte plant was domesticated in the first place. So arguably, civilization arose in Mesoamerica because some indigenous people in the Balsas River Basin really loved popcorn. Can you imagine being around the fire the first time someone roasted Teosinte for the first time?
food crop selective breeding (which I differentiate from modern genetic engineering by the lack of microscopic cutting and pasting of genes) is certainly a triumph of humanity.
personally, I prefer metalworking as one of the great inventions. there's lots of forageable foods until population density starts to conflict with the natural surroundings, and a lot of growing things that can be domesticated by seed collection and deliberate planting/tending.
but yeah, corn is an amazing modification of grass seed heads.
Fun fact - did you know that the seeds of the Teosinte plant, the wild ancestor of Maize, can be popped like popcorn? This explains why the Teosinte plant was domesticated in the first place. So arguably, civilization arose in Mesoamerica because some indigenous people in the Balsas River Basin really loved popcorn. Can you imagine being around the fire the first time someone roasted Teosinte for the first time?
Fun video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR4BQ5Zbww0
"oh, gods! I dropped my grain too close to the fire to grab!
<pop pop pop>
WTF?!?
Mmmm! doing that on purpose next time!"
nice video, by the way.