Thoughts on how we went from spear throwing warriors, over self-sheltering businessmen, to become the modern Selfie taking man

On the evolution of modern man

Drawing and text by Frits Ahlefeldt

A not so official story of how man went from spears to selfie sticks

We’ve come a long way since we managed to start a fire with a couple of rocks and added stones to sticks, but I suddenly realized – we still walk with a stick in hand.

During the last around 500.000 years we have first stopped using the sticks for defense against wild beasts, then after using them for shelter for a while, we have now finally started to use them for taking selfies and mobile videos, aiming the stick back, shooting ourselves.

Three stages

Maybe we can see it as we have gone through three stages of stick evolution:

The warrior

Back in the days, men painted them self up in bright colors and used spears to hunt for food and also to defend, not only themselves, but the whole tribe.

It was the beginning of our use of technology, where we aimed our sticks at targets outside what we were able to grasp.

The Businessman

Then came the umbrella wearing businessman, who was more concerned about fitting into the rules of the market, and optimizing his personal gains within the tribe, investing and moving from meeting to meeting without getting his personal assets wet. An epoch where the stick was used to create an instant personal shelter from challenges and the environment.

The SelfieMan

Today we are moving on from self protection to self-promotion. The umbrella has been replaced with a selfie stick and a new mindset: Come wild beasts, rain or sun, as long as we can put it on Instagram, and make it look fun…

Art Print: Link to the Evolution on modern man drawing as art print on FritsAhlefeldt.net

I also posted the story on Medium.com here