Fire and Knowledge

Even now, as a species we are almost preposterously vulnerable in the wild. Nearly every large animal you care to name is stronger, faster and toothier than us. Faced with attack, modern humans have two advantages. We have a good brain, with which we can devise strategies; and we have hands, with which we can fling or brandish hurtful objects. We are the only creature that can harm at a distance. We can thus afford to be physically vulnerable.

–Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), 395