Humans use their hands. And they work. In this episode, we discussed the importance of the relationship between children’s hands and their work, as pointed out by Maria Montessori.
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Profile
Yati Obara
Editor-in-Chief, Scientific Montessori
Based in Japan, born in 1989. CEO of Motherhand and Co-Director of the nonprofit think tank Polymath Research. Holds an M.Eng. and is an AMI-certified teacher. Focused on Montessori developmental theory and AI. Mother of two.
Hiro Obara
Publisher, Scientific Montessori
Based in Japan, born in 1990. CEO of StudyX and Co-Director of the nonprofit think tank Polymath Research. Works as a software developer and game designer. Father of two.
Humanity exists to fully understand the universe.
Yati
Today’s topic is “Hands and Work.” Let me introduce some quotes from Maria Montessori: “The hand is the instrument of intelligence. Children learn by touching and moving things.” “Children play with their hands, come to work with their hands, and through accumulating such experiences, they form their personalities.” “Children teach us that we must use our hands to continue developing intelligence.” “Hands and Work” are important for both mental development and human intelligence.
Hiro
Right.
Yati
Before we discuss “Hands and Work,” I want to define “work.” What is “work”? Maria Montessori said it’s “changing the environment” or “creating something supranatural,” but I find that a bit hard to understand.
Hiro
That doesn’t really say anything. We need to define it more physically. There’s a physical definition of work too. What corresponds to work is energy.
Yati
Right. In physics, work is defined as force times distance, and its unit is energy.
Hiro
Energy exists for doing work. It’s a physics term. What Montessori calls “work” isn’t about earning a living. I think it’s physical work. Physical work is, for example, moving an object from here to there, or from a low place to a high place. Energy is used in the form of potential energy, kinetic energy, and so on. And in this universe, no matter how much energy you use, it doesn’t decrease. It doesn’t decrease, and it doesn’t increase.
Yati
The law of conservation of energy.
Hiro
Energy is transformed. What was potential energy here becomes kinetic energy there and does some kind of work. Cosmically, it’s like equivalent exchange. Generally, when people say “work,” they think of it as something to “earn a living,” but that’s the common-sense definition in human society. Human civilization has been advancing and getting smarter, but it’s still inferior.
Yati
What do you mean?
Hiro
In a perfectly physical world, “earning a living” isn’t part of it. The compensation for work in nature is different from the human world. Nothing in nature earns a living. Things simply do work.
Yati
For example, what does this mean for plants?
Hiro
When we say plants, there are trees, grass, all kinds. This is also a human classification. There’s a huge tree with grass underneath it.
Yati
And climbing vines.
Hiro
Right. There are small ones and big ones. And they’re all doing work. Each one blooms flowers. Respiration and photosynthesis are also work. This relates to the Constructal Law, a new law I’m currently studying. Let me introduce it briefly. It’s a law of design.
Yati
Tell me more.
Hiro
The design of this world is progressing in a certain direction according to physical laws. We call that “evolution.” What direction is it going? The law says it’s “progressing toward greater efficiency.”
Yati
What does efficiency mean here?
Hiro
Efficiency means “making the flow that flows through you flow even more.”
Yati
So the universe is evolving so that flow flows even more. What does that mean concretely?
Hiro
For example, with plants, you can’t see inside a plant, but water flows through it, and oxygen too. When photosynthesizing, leaves open their stomata. At the same time, water and oxygen flow out as gas. Conversely, plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, convert it to carbohydrates through photosynthesis, release sugars from their roots, and pass them to microorganisms. That’s the work they’re doing.
Yati
There’s flow.
Hiro
This has become clear recently with the advancement of science and technology. Before, we just looked at plants blankly and wondered, “Why is it here?” But thankfully, we can eat them, burn them for warmth, and there are all sorts of uses. From a human perspective, we thought plants were doing work for us.
Yati
Right.
Hiro
But actually, when science and technology let us see the micro and macro worlds, we find that just by being there, not moving, they’re doing work just by existing.
Yati
And on a macro level, they’re increasing the efficiency of Earth’s cycles?
Hiro
Not Earth. The universe. In this case, they live on Earth but are doing work for the universe. Why? Because energy isn’t conserved per planet. It’s conserved across the entire universe.
Yati
This is what’s fascinating about physics.
Hiro
It’s amazing. The same laws govern tiny, tiny, invisibly tiny microorganisms and worlds far larger than galaxies.
Yati
Getting back to the topic. In this cosmic evolution, what is humanity’s work?
Hiro
What I want to say, and this is a bit of a leap, is that the work given to humanity as intelligent life is to achieve complete understanding of the entire universe.
Yati
What lies beyond understanding the universe?
Hiro
By understanding the universe, we become able to increase efficiency further. We help nature.
Yati
I see. We’re pushing forward the evolution of the universe.
Hiro
To properly connect this to today’s theme: humans have hands. Having hands means we can manipulate our environment. There’s also the philosophy of operationalism, the idea that the meaning of a concept comes from how we operate on it. For example, beavers build dams too. They block rivers. Beavers gnaw on big trees, conifers, with their teeth.
Yati
With their big front teeth.
Hiro
Right, they’re rodents. And they gnaw on trees that are still standing. They stop partway so they don’t get crushed when it falls. Then at some point, strong wind shakes it and it finally breaks. Then they gnaw it smaller to use. They’re forest carpenters. They’re called a “keystone species.”
Yati
A species that’s important for the ecosystem.
Hiro
They have a big impact on rivers and forests. By damming rivers, fish can’t swim upstream, which creates habitats for various birds. When water overflows, tributaries form. Water seeps into the soil and vegetation changes. By disturbing the ecosystem like this, they make it more diverse and stable.
Yati
But for beavers, they’re just building their own nests, right?
Hiro
Exactly. Beavers probably aren’t thinking, “I’m going to improve the forest environment.” They want a home, so they fell trees, gather them, build a safe place to sleep, and that becomes a natural dam.
Yati
And humans are the same?
Hiro
Yes. Humans also act on self-interest, drilling for oil, doing things for survival. Once they can ensure their own survival, they scale up for the survival of their community. Sometimes science goes too far and causes environmental destruction, sometimes we learn from nature, going back and forth in balance, developing like climbing a spiral.
Yati
So with that human mission in mind, what should we do during ages 0 to 3?
Hiro
Spend time in nature.
Yati
I thought given this theme, you’d say “use your hands to work in nature.”
Hiro
No. If you don’t interfere with children in nature, they’ll start using their hands on their own.
Yati
Why is spending time in nature important?
Hiro
Because no matter how hard humans try, what they create can’t beat the designs nature produces. Great designers usually come from the countryside. Biological design evolves according to cosmic laws. It’s efficient, and it’s about cooperation, not competition. When you touch a pill bug and wonder why it rolls up, you’re sensing those laws. Noticing the seasons naturally is also natural.
Yati
I was worried our older daughter would be bored on the long kindergarten bus rides, but she was moved by how Mount Iwate, in northern Japan, changed through the four seasons.
Hiro
Right. If I had to say what to be careful about when spending time in nature, it’s “don’t let them die.” Nature is harsh.
Yati
What else is important besides spending time in nature?
Hiro
Walking, eating, sleeping.
Yati
As a Montessorian, once children can walk and use their hands, they can do things for themselves and household tasks, so I tend to want to recommend that. But yes, walking is important. Children around 18 months to 2 years who can walk well really walk as if walking is their job. Including eating and sleeping, it’s about building the foundation for the brain and body.
Hiro
By the Constructal Law I mentioned earlier, bigger is advantageous. Speaking of hands, humans have longer thumbs than other great apes. Because this thumb opposes the other fingers, we can grasp things. Large, dexterous hands are a characteristic of Homo sapiens. The magnificence of the thumb might be proportional to intelligence.
Yati
Maybe so. Whether it’s finger length, physique, or brain size, there are individual differences, but everyone can aim for their personal best.
Hiro
Speaking of brains, the current Homo sapiens average is about 1,130 cubic centimeters for women and 1,270 cubic centimeters for men, but some famous Russian writers had nearly 2,000 cubic centimeters.
Yati
They say Einstein’s was surprisingly small. It’s mysterious.
Hiro
AI could solve math problems relatively quickly early on, but only recently became able to produce literary writing. Writing text that makes people groan is that difficult. It probably requires thinking about how the world works and how people feel, activating many different parts of a large brain.
Yati
A large brain seems necessary for understanding the universe too. We’ll cover “eating” in a future issue. As for “sleeping,” I recently watched videos of sleep researcher Professor Masashi Yanagisawa, and I really think everyone should sleep more, not just children.
Hiro
Right.
Yati
Sleep regularity and quality are important, but securing enough sleep quantity is the top priority. For adults, around 8 hours; for elementary schoolers, about 10 hours; so for ages 0 to 3, it’s even more.
Hiro
Children who sleep grow well.
Yati
There’s also research showing differences in hippocampus size based on whether children got enough sleep in early childhood.
Hiro
That’s significant.
Yati
Also, when you get enough sleep, you become more altruistic. Even just 1 hour of sleep deprivation makes people less altruistic. This is evident from charity donations clearly decreasing on the day daylight saving time starts.
Hiro
Religions should let their followers sleep rather than preaching about altruism.
Yati
Toward humanity’s mission of “complete understanding of the entire universe,” during ages 0 to 3, let’s spend time in nature, eat well, walk plenty, and sleep well.
Hiro
With smiles and good spirits.
