That part the author only skipped over, but I think it's likely true: we are the species that does not just learn how to open boxes by imitation, we are the spe

That part the author only skipped over, but I think it's likely true: we are the species that does not just learn how to open boxes by imitation, we are the species that starts a cargo cult hoping for boxes to arrive. In earlier days, we understood very little of the technology we had, even on the highest expert level. A chimpanzee that does not imitate but only watches to pick up the elements it understands would never be able to become bronze age, no matter the abundance of ore and fuel. The human on the other hand apparently has the ability to trust the unknown and try.