Over the last two million years, the human linage underwent clear morphological changes alongside less easily measurable, but significant, behavioral and cognitive shifts as it forged, and was shaped by, new niches. We went from a group of small, fangless, clawless, naked bipedal ape-like beings to the makers of stone tools, the controllers of fire and the producers of cave art and on to become the constructors of towns, cities and empires, ultimately becoming a core force in the global ecosystem. How did this happen? Whether it was eluding predators, defeating competitors, making and sharing stone tools, controlling fire, telling stories or contending with shifts in climate, our ancestors collaborated to deal with the challenges the world threw at them. This baseline of creative cooperation, the ability to think, communicate, and collaborate with increasing prowess, transformed us into the beings that invented the technologies that support large-scale societies and ultimately states. This collaborative creativity also drove the development of religious beliefs and ethical systems, and our production of masterful artwork. It also tragically fueled and facilitated our ability to compete in more deadly ways. We apply essentially the same creativity in killing other members of our species as well as to manipulating the planet to the brink of complete devastation. In short, the human lineage acquired a distinctive set of neurological, physiological, and social skills that enabled us to work together and think together in order to create and collaborate at increasing levels of complexity. We are neither the nastiest species nor the nicest species. We are neither entirely untethered from our biological nature nor slavishly yoked to it. It’s not the drive to reproduce, nor competition for mates, or resources, or power, nor our propensity for caring for one another that have separated us out from all other creatures. We are first and foremost the species singularly distinguished, and shaped, by collaborative creativity.