ABSTRACT
Unlike the rest of living organisms, Homo sapiens seems to be the sole organism capable of imagining the future and planning for its benefits. We know that some species of greater apes have the wit to fashion simple tools, essentially to feed themselves (and thereby ensure their continuity). Humans look ahead, however, foreseeing at the same time the circumvention of shortages of food and shelter and the evasion of predators. As depicted in Chapter 3 on foresight and innovation, the human is the species that foresees: innovator and provider par excellence, thus far unmatched in the kingdom of the living. The mix of imagination and vision may be nature’s most remarkable gift to its near-autonomous biped.
