How did mankind’s first social network start with a spark? What does fire have to do with speech? In this episode of Johan Norberg’s New and Improved, Norberg shares the many ways in which the discovery of fire revolutionized the human condition.

After language, Charles Darwin called it possibly the greatest discovery made by man. Fire has empowered humans with altered brains and stomachs, with language, and with robust communities. In many ways, it has made us who we are.

And control of fire remains central to human existence. Today, over 200 million stoves and cooktops are sold per year and the lineage of the appliances we use each day can be traced all the way back to mankind’s first forays into the world of sparks.