Comment by dotancohen
4 hours ago
Humans had completely mastered fire by about 200,000 years ago - after 800,000 years of experimentation.
Speech is dated to around 60,000 years ago, though some say we started down that path 200,000 years ago: right when we mastered fire.
Probably due to the need for profanity after getting burnt.
I can't in good conscience upvote short form jokes on HN, but that got a laugh out of me.
The need for profanity came much earlier - due to smashed thumbs, gouged fingers, etc. while learning to make primitive stone tools.
How can we date the origin of speech?