Mumford on humans being inherently technological

Are we inherently technological? It common for people to believe that. We used to be often called the only "tool-maker," before it was discovered other animals use tools. But then the argument was bumped up a level to mean that we're only one's complex technologies. That may be true, but Mumford points out that it's not the tools distinguish us, but something we invented before our first complex tools, and without which we probably couldn't have developed complex toos: language.

If we think about what language uses to define meaning, we'll see how to understand and use it, we'd need abilities that would also be necessary for developing complex technologies.

Grammer
Rhythm
Pitch and Intonation

Those variable qualities of speech allow us to put complex phrases together, just as we would put together pieces of a machine that operates across time and space. In essence, language was our first complicated machine, and Mumford argues that it's still our most complicated machine.