What Does Human History Tell Us?

So you open your eyes and you just stand there. 

Who are you, where is this place, when are you, nothing comes to your mind.

There is nothing around you. Everything is empty, neither the earth nor the sky.

Let's not exaggerate, let's say you are in a white room. 

There's a light coming from somewhere above, but it's as if the whole ceiling is a lamp, it's not a brilliant light, but it's very bright inside. 

What would you do if I gave you three balls?

Let's say I'm out. 

I told you, there's nothing around.

I say there's nothing around, but let's change the scenario a bit.

Let's say I don't give you the three balls, but three balls are in the middle of the room.

***

What would be your first reaction if you were in such a situation?

I think first of all you would start to think, maybe what are these things?

Yes, you can think!

Maybe you would be a bit scared at first though. Maybe you would feel the walls or something.

But then those three balls will catch your attention.

Maybe you touch one of them hesitantly. 

The ball didn't do you any harm. 

You'll probably see it roll after a little push.

***

Yes, I don't know if such social experiments are done, but this scene is similar to a scene from a movie I have seen before.

Throughout history, human beings have analyzed what they have and tried to make sense of it.

We started with balls, let's continue a bit more. Last time we pushed it a little bit and the ball rolled.

Imagine if you push it a little too fast, the ball goes and touches the other ball. 

It moved that ball too, see?

Isn't that interesting? That's momentum.

You start thinking, how does this work? 

Then you start playing with the balls, pushing them a little bit faster, let's imagine that they are billiard balls.

When they collide, you hear sounds, why do they make those sounds? When the ball hits another ball for the first time, you hear a sound for the first time.

Then you realize that you too can make sounds with your mouth.

Then imagine that there are three balls, each in a different color. 

Red, blue and yellow, for example. 

Look, we have already gained a lot of knowledge: motion, momentum, sound, color. We also realized a little bit about ourselves.

***

Then we start thinking, who am I? Where is this place? A moment ago that ball was over there, but now it's here, and while this is happening, some time passes. We become aware of time. Things happen in a certain order in time. But even if nothing happens, we realize that time is moving forward.

Many thinkers throughout history have thought to themselves in this way.

Then they shared their thoughts with others. 

Maybe other people gave that thinker a certain value and listened to him. He had students, for example. They passed on what they said to someone else.

In the end, human beings have somehow passed on what they know to the next generations.

***

Some things may have been conveyed differently during these transmissions. Maybe a little exaggerated, maybe misunderstood. After all, even we cannot always claim to have understood everything correctly.

Maybe this is how some legends were born. Couldn't the unlikely events have turned into legends when they were embellished a bit?

After all, the stories were initially passed on by word of mouth.

Maybe even religions were born this way. 

Couldn't people have attributed some events they couldn't explain to a higher being?

Yes, there must be a creator!

Everything can't just happen by itself, can it?

Then there is such a thing as life, and life must have a purpose!

Anyway, these are matters of faith, and everyone is free to believe whatever they want. 

But it is a fact that human beings still cannot find an explanation for everything.

In fact, I think there will always be some things for which there will never be an explanation.

That's why I respect everyone's beliefs. 

As long as they don't impose their beliefs on others.

***

Today we are in the information age!

We now know how to record everything in such a way that it will almost never disappear!

There is the Internet, for example! 

There are even cloud systems on the internet. 

Now we can access the information we have saved through the cloud with another device!

Although I still can't use the cloud feature of this phone on which I write my articles for the articles. 

I mean, for some reason, I cannot access my articles directly from the other phone. I have to transfer them to each other via messages.

I have somehow managed to communicate between the phones though. Recently I finally managed to share the phone numbers stored on one phone with the other.

I think the problem is that one phone has an "android" operating system and the other one my daughter recently gave me has an "ios" operating system. 

The same writing program does not work in the same order on different operating systems. I will either change the program I use or the phone.

What am I talking about, what phone, what cloud, what system, what program?

We were just talking about the first man!

Although not the first man, at the beginning of the article, we started with a man who knew nothing as a metaphor.

***

How many years do you think human beings have been on this earth?

The age of the earth is said to be four and a half billion years.

Dinosaurs lived once, for example. But they became extinct. I think a meteorite fell on the earth once.

It is said that the birds that live today are the descendants of dinosaurs that could fly back then.

Can you imagine? You are eating chicken in the oven at night, but it is actually the descendants of dinosaurs!

***

The oldest historical remains found of the human species are estimated to be 1 million 400 thousand years old.

These fossils were found at the Atapuerca archaeological excavation site near the city of Burgos in northern Spain.

Until recently, the history of mankind was thought to date back 500 thousand years, but these fossils have pushed the date back by about a million years.

Moreover, humanity is thought to have spread from Africa, and these fossils were found in Spain.

Nevertheless, the thesis that mankind spread from Africa is still valid. It's just that these fossils show that this migration started much earlier than previously thought.

In other words, the adventure of mankind in this world is perhaps 1 million 500 thousand years old.

***

Archaeologists are always looking for something. And sometimes they find something.

Of course, some possible scenarios are being created with the findings that have been found so far, but I think it is not very clear which one is real and which one is made up. Let's not call them fabrications, let's call them guesses. Guesses supported by scientific findings. A lot of time has passed and a lot of things have disappeared, and since we can't turn back time and go back to those days, we have to go with guesses. I can understand that too.

As I said at the beginning, human beings can only analyze what they have and try to make sense of what they find and what they have.

***

It was only much later that the first people thought of recording things. 

They didn't think about it at first.

In a cave in South Africa, a rock fragment was discovered that is thought to be the oldest inscription made by human hands, and these inscriptions are thought to be about 73 thousand years old.

***

The oldest written document found is Sumerian clay tablets dating back to 3000 BC. That is 5 thousand years ago.

On the one hand, 1 million 400 thousand years of human history, on the other hand, the first meaningful human record from 73 thousand years ago, and then a written document that is 5 thousand years old.

Can you imagine how we as humanity have developed throughout history?

***

Technological advances go back a couple of centuries.

Even the internet, the communication network that has become so ubiquitous in our lives today, was only invented in 1989, when I was still at university!

Okay, there were computers back then, and they could even communicate with each other, but I'm talking about the international internet network. 

The establishment of today's internet network is 34 years old.

***

Then, naturally, everything progressed much faster.

The internet, which was first used to transfer some information, has now completely changed the world of almost everyone under the name of social media. 

I am excluding the uncles who say, "Let me see your phone".

***

Does anyone remember when 3G connectivity on smartphones was first introduced?

3G technology was invented in Japan in 1998 by the company "NTT docomo". 

It reached America in 2002 and Europe in 2003.

If anyone remembers, it was introduced to Turkey in 2009 by our president Mr. Erdoğan, who was still the prime minister at the time. 

I don't remember who he had a video call with, but the first time he made a video call was shown on television.

It has been 14 years now.

How new is it?

***

Do you know why I wrote all this chronology? 

For me, my first introduction to computers coincided with the last year of Kuleli. 

It could have been September 1984, or November. We had already graduated in the summer of 1985.

However, today it is naturally not possible for people above a certain age to be so familiar with technology.

It is not that easy for people to adapt to some things.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling anyone ignorant, that's a word dear İlber Ortaylı likes to say. Love to him from here.

What I am saying is that it is not that easy for people to adapt to certain innovations.

Naturally, I can't even get angry at those uncles who used to say "take out your cell phone" in street interviews until yesterday. Those uncles are still living in that narrow world they have built for themselves.

***

Recently, when I was shopping with my wife in the market, she drew my attention to a rather old gentleman at one of the tables placed on one side of the market to place the products you bought in your bag.

That gentleman was carefully wrapping everything he bought in the newspapers he brought with him and placing it in his bag.

When I asked him why he did this, the lady told me that it was a habit from the Soviet Union.

In the Soviet Union, people used to wrap the things they bought in newspapers because nothing was packaged.

Apparently the old gentleman was still living in those days.

That's what I'm talking about.

***

In fact, I cannot even be angry at the intention of our current rulers to govern the country according to the old rules.

Let me go even further, I cannot say anything to the people who elected these rulers.

Because technology is advancing at a speed that people cannot follow.

***

Even as I wrote at the beginning, even though I got acquainted with computers a long time ago, I don't think I have enough knowledge to cope with today's technologies sometimes.

I've only just figured out how to connect two phones with the cloud, and even that's half-baked, and I haven't managed to share my notes yet. That's partly due to system differences, but there's probably a way around it.

***

So if you are asking what is the essence of all these words, young people, I think these words are for you.

This generation is unfortunately like this. You were born into the history of technology that I just mentioned.

Even among my daughters, I feel that there is a difference in their technological skills because of the age difference. The younger one is much more technologically adept.

In this age of technology, these management staff, who have to build a much better future for you, unfortunately do not know how to do this.

Perhaps personal ambitions stemming from the environment they grew up in also play a big role in this.

I think you will have to do this job, that is, to build the Turkey of the future, on your own.

When I say this, I am not referring to any party sympathies, I am talking about all young people, everyone who feels young.

But the solution to do this should never be to leave the country. Believe me, experience tells me this. I have been living abroad for many years.

So if there is something to be done, it should be done within the borders of the country.

***

Just this weekend the university exams were held. I hope everyone's exams went as well as they hoped. 

Those who succeeded in the exams will have a few years of very good university years ahead of them. 

First of all, enjoy these beautiful years.

But then you will go through a really difficult period.

Perhaps much more difficult days will be waiting for you than for us. So don't waste your university years. Develop yourself as much as possible. 

Because as I said, today's rulers don't really know how to govern the country, how they should govern the country. They are still living with the pains and resentments of years ago.

I think it has already become mandatory for everything, including elections, to be technology-supported.

Participatory democracy!

This is the kind of governance system that should be. 

But unfortunately, your elders, who are still concerned about madrasa education and religious generation in the country, are still trying to keep their power in their hands with various foot games. The fights of years ago are still going on.

On the other hand, since they do not want the new generations to be much smarter than themselves, they are intent on returning the country to the way it was years ago with the concern of being able to rule people as they wish.  

In this last period, my guess is that those in power will increase the repression regime much more and they will seek to develop brand new methods for this purpose.

I think it will be your primary task to find new methods to overcome this oppression.

After all, this world was not even left to Sultan Suleiman. 

I think it is clear that it will not be left to those in power.

I think you understand the mission.

Let me end this article by saying stay with technology, you cannot go wrong with technology.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow