"Man invented things by imposing a shape on Nature" Later he invented VoIP by imposing a shape on Numbers.

"Beast abstract not" wrote John Locke.
"Although not altogether correct, he highlighted the fact that man's use of symbols to make sense of the world distinguishes him from roughly a million species and the other hundred and ninety-two different kinds of ape and monkey.

Symbols are the instruments which convert raw intelligence into culture.
Without them, explained Lewis Mumford, man's life would be one of immediate sensations, limited to a past shorter than his own lifetime, at the mercy of a future he could never anticipate, never prepare for.
In such a world, out of hearing would be out of reach, and out of sight would be out of mind."

Whether it all happened by a slow dawning consciousness, or through a series of spontaneous mental sparks which ignited a dormant imagination, at some point the mindless became mindful.
Perhaps blankly gazing into a fire someone, somewhere, sometime, suddenly saw a face in the flickering flames.
At that moment matter became mind and man stepped through the looking glass.

Being conscious of self, man was able to invent languages to communicate thoughts, work his environment, create concepts to express ideas, and images to identify the supernatural forces which surrounded him.

Seeing God in a tree he could summon him forth in a totem pole."