The mosaic eye of the dragonfly has 28000 ommatidia, 28000 micro-eyes. Throughout humanity we have thousands of millions of eyes looking out on the single world, the single universe. The integrating processes, which in the insect are the result of the organisation of its nervous system, are constituted for humans by the development of language, language as a system for externalising the contents of each individual's brain and, with the invention of writing, enabling information to be transmitted over time as well as over space. The central force operating in the evolution of human culture has been language and all forms of communication derived from language. The source of this power of language, both in its origin and in its current functioning, is the direct relation of language to human physiological and neurological complexity. Language was constructed on and from the pre-existing complexity of the human brain, from pre-existing organisation of the perceptual and motor systems. Culture, the structures of human culture and changes in human culture, can all be traced back to the operation of language. Language has been the foundation for morality, social cohesion and continuity, religion, science, law, philosophy. Language made possible both the development of the individual consciousness - we use words to become aware of ourselves - and also of the social consciousness. In society language plays a central role; it forms within the individual, within the group, a sense of the cohesion of the group. It creates within each individual images of the group, of the nation, and ultimately of humanity as a whole. The great mosaic eye of humanity formed through language makes it possible for us to investigate our past and speculate on the future, the future of the evolutionary process of which humanity forms a part.