The A B C's of Debt and Ritual Human Sacrifice

The Alphabet’s First Killer Apps

The story we tell ourselves is that writing began with poetry, prayer, or philosophy is a polite fiction. The real story is colder, older, and carved in stone. The alphabet’s very first killer applications were two, and only two:


1. Debt
2. Ritual human sacrifice

The Rosetta Stone Was Not a One-Off Stone

And the Library of Alexandria Never Really Died