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Why do humans feel the urge to share their thoughts with others?

Sharing knowledge is key to our survival as a species, say our readers.

6 May 2026

91av. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Cat Gwynn/Getty Images

Guy Cox
St Albans, New South Wales, Australia

We are social animals, and the survival of the individual depends on the survival of the group. For example, if an early hominin finds a tree laden with fruit, they cannot possibly eat it all, so it makes sense to tell the rest of the group about it. If they don’t do that, some other species will go for it and a lot of useful food will be wasted. Sharing our thoughts and our observations has been absolutely fundamental to human evolution.

Pat French
Longdon-upon-Tern, Shropshire, UK

I couldn’t possibly say.

 

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