Forty Six & 2

"Forty-Six & 2" is a song by the American rock band Tool. It was released as the fourth single from their second album Ænima in 1997 and received radio airplay.

Overview

The promotional single is the only release by Tool that was released on Freeworld Entertainment label, the label being in business only for a short time. Zoo Entertainment, Tool's label until 1996 was dissolved in early 1997 by its new owners Volcano Entertainment. Following that, Volcano Entertainment was briefly renamed Freeworld Entertainment from sometime late in 1997 until Zomba purchased the company in 1998 and changed the name back to Volcano. Though the label released a number of albums and singles by other artists on its roster, the "Forty-Six & 2" promo is the only release featuring Tool.

Title and theme

Popular belief dictates that the song title references an idea first conceived by Carl Jung and later expounded upon by Drunvalo Melchizedek concerning the possibility of reaching a state of evolution at which the body would have two more than the normal 46 total chromosomes and leave a currently disharmonious state. The premise is that humans would deviate from the current state of human DNA which contains 44 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes. The next step of evolution would likely result in human DNA being reorganized into 46 and 2 chromosomes, according to Melchizedek.

Tool

A tool is any physical item that can be used to achieve a goal, especially if the item is not consumed in the process. Tool use by humans dates back millions of years, and other animals are also known to employ simple tools.

Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as "instrument", "utensil", "implement", "machine", "device," or "apparatus". The set of tools needed to achieve a goal is "equipment". The knowledge of constructing, obtaining and using tools is technology.

History

Anthropologists believe that the use of tools was an important step in the evolution of mankind. Because tools are used extensively by both humans and wild chimpanzees, it is widely assumed that the first routine use of tools took place prior to the divergence between the two species. These early tools, however, were likely made of perishable materials such as sticks, or consisted of unmodified stones that cannot be distinguished from other stones as tools.

Stone artifacts only date back to about 2.5 million years ago. However, a 2010 study suggests the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis ate meat by carving animal carcasses with stone implements. This finding pushes back the earliest known use of stone tools among hominins to about 3.4 million years ago.