<<No, it seems to me that it has a lot more in common with the Industrial
Revolution, except that it probably took a lot longer (talking about
30,000 to 40,000 yrs here, not the Cambrian explosion). >>
Interesting insight, and well taken, though ultimately it may prove too much.
What NATURE does is a good deal different than what INTELLIGENCE does. The
Industrial Revolution was the product of applied intelligence (e.g. Lavoisier,
Berthollet, Eli Whitney).
Likewise, the cosmos, the Cambrian Explosion, and modern man were the product
of applied Intelligence too! At least, it appears that way.
And you've not got the sudden appearance of modern man quite right. It did not
"take" 30,000 to 40,000 years. We're not talking about US. We're talking about
our ancestors. And they did, quite literally from even an evolutionary
standpoint, BURST onto the scene.
Jim