If you’re an ancient hominin like Ardi, how do you greatly expand your range? How do you swim out into that sea of grass? You need to walk in order to carry stuff, yes. But you also need to endure. You need to be able to tap a second wind. You need to push past the wall. You need to survive in the suck. The things that let us survive in the suck are the things that make us human. Yes, our capacity to innovate, but also our ability to endure in the worst conditions. To keep at it when we’re already tired. Our ability, in other words, to not give up.
