If you ask me to name two things that have really made significant changes in how we live our life, my answer would be –
I will discuss the second point first, prior to settling down, humans would move around and temporarily live in a place where there was abundance of food and water, and they would find shelter near the source of food. As long as the two conditions were met they stayed there and as resources got exhausted they moved on to another site. The good thing about it,humans were closer to nature and would know the repercussion if they harmedit in any shape or form. Slowly we started to settle down, we created our houses in a place first and then started to grow food around where we lived. Water was the key ingredient for growing food, which is why you will see all major civilisation started along the river banks. Over the period of time we invented / designed products to build houses that were stronger, safer and insulated from the environment extremes.
We invented air-conditioner and heater that would keep us cool in summer and warm in winter. As it happened, whether we realised or not, comfort slowly crept into our lives. So we created things to give us comfort and slowly transformed into comfort creatures.We started ignoring our environment and our lives became more artificial. For eg. We started to look for alternates to cotton for making fabric as making fabric using cotton is very long and manual, so we invented nylon, an artificial alternative to cotton. In addition, nylon had uses in many other engineering. Plastic was a great invention in the 60s – 80s and if you fast forward to the 21st century, we are now struggling to protect our planet from the menace of plastic. What a contradiction!
Using somebody else to do our work
Now coming to the first point, when humans realised that they could use somebody else to do their work – we first made animals and other humans(weaker than us) to do our work. As time progressed, we became so dependent on them that we found out new ways and means to keep them with us, so that we could have them forever. That gave birth to the concept of slavery. We used them for small things such as cooking and cleaning and also bigger and harder things such as working in the farm and transportation using human / animal driven carts.Instead of walking long distance, we could actually be carried by 4 people on their shoulders or travel in a cart driven by horses and bullocks.
Over a period of time, we realised that humans and animals had limited ability, so we invented machines. For eg. Carts drawn by horses or humans could only go up to certain maximum speed. We invented cars to travel faster on road. For travelling longer distances we wanted to fly like birds so we invented aeroplanes. So now we also started using machines to do the work for us.
The biggest revolution in our lives came when we bundled together these two things ie. The concept of using somebody else or something else to do our work and comfort/ convenience.
I remember in the early 1960s, having a telephone was a luxury and so was refrigerator and television in 70s. Mobile phone was unheard of as late as 1980s. Fast forward to 2019, tables have turned, we have now become slaves to technology and machines. Have you ever imagined life without a mobile phone or television? Before the advent of mobile phone, we had land lines, which meant if we wanted to talk to somebody who is not with you, you had to look for a telephone machine and today, we walk with the phone in our pocket and we are accessible 24 hours.
Before internet became popular, we got our daily news delivered to us in the form of a newspaper and now we have full access to news over the internet on our mobile phones. Have you realised that as we embrace more technology, the more dependent we get on it? I understand, we are doing research on cars that can drive itself, wouldn’t that be a revolution in itself.
A new type of slavery have creeped into our lives whether we like it or not. We have all become a slave and we have one common master – technology and gadgets.
As the society has grown our brains have created and invented more things and as a natural process, have started solving more complex problems. Do our brains have any limits to creativity or problem solving ability? Are we going to stop any time soon? Where will all these technology going to take us? I reserve my comments and leave it to my reader to decide and tell me what they think.
I will surely give my opinion on what I think – Coming soon.
Partha Mazumdar is the founder and designer of https://www.verticalbricks.com.au/ an online property platform. He has interest in changing market behavior and economics.
- The day human beings realised that they could use somebody else to do their work, and
- The day humans started to settle down in one place.
I will discuss the second point first, prior to settling down, humans would move around and temporarily live in a place where there was abundance of food and water, and they would find shelter near the source of food. As long as the two conditions were met they stayed there and as resources got exhausted they moved on to another site. The good thing about it,humans were closer to nature and would know the repercussion if they harmedit in any shape or form. Slowly we started to settle down, we created our houses in a place first and then started to grow food around where we lived. Water was the key ingredient for growing food, which is why you will see all major civilisation started along the river banks. Over the period of time we invented / designed products to build houses that were stronger, safer and insulated from the environment extremes.
We invented air-conditioner and heater that would keep us cool in summer and warm in winter. As it happened, whether we realised or not, comfort slowly crept into our lives. So we created things to give us comfort and slowly transformed into comfort creatures.We started ignoring our environment and our lives became more artificial. For eg. We started to look for alternates to cotton for making fabric as making fabric using cotton is very long and manual, so we invented nylon, an artificial alternative to cotton. In addition, nylon had uses in many other engineering. Plastic was a great invention in the 60s – 80s and if you fast forward to the 21st century, we are now struggling to protect our planet from the menace of plastic. What a contradiction!
Using somebody else to do our work
Now coming to the first point, when humans realised that they could use somebody else to do their work – we first made animals and other humans(weaker than us) to do our work. As time progressed, we became so dependent on them that we found out new ways and means to keep them with us, so that we could have them forever. That gave birth to the concept of slavery. We used them for small things such as cooking and cleaning and also bigger and harder things such as working in the farm and transportation using human / animal driven carts.Instead of walking long distance, we could actually be carried by 4 people on their shoulders or travel in a cart driven by horses and bullocks.
Over a period of time, we realised that humans and animals had limited ability, so we invented machines. For eg. Carts drawn by horses or humans could only go up to certain maximum speed. We invented cars to travel faster on road. For travelling longer distances we wanted to fly like birds so we invented aeroplanes. So now we also started using machines to do the work for us.
The biggest revolution in our lives came when we bundled together these two things ie. The concept of using somebody else or something else to do our work and comfort/ convenience.
I remember in the early 1960s, having a telephone was a luxury and so was refrigerator and television in 70s. Mobile phone was unheard of as late as 1980s. Fast forward to 2019, tables have turned, we have now become slaves to technology and machines. Have you ever imagined life without a mobile phone or television? Before the advent of mobile phone, we had land lines, which meant if we wanted to talk to somebody who is not with you, you had to look for a telephone machine and today, we walk with the phone in our pocket and we are accessible 24 hours.
Before internet became popular, we got our daily news delivered to us in the form of a newspaper and now we have full access to news over the internet on our mobile phones. Have you realised that as we embrace more technology, the more dependent we get on it? I understand, we are doing research on cars that can drive itself, wouldn’t that be a revolution in itself.
A new type of slavery have creeped into our lives whether we like it or not. We have all become a slave and we have one common master – technology and gadgets.
As the society has grown our brains have created and invented more things and as a natural process, have started solving more complex problems. Do our brains have any limits to creativity or problem solving ability? Are we going to stop any time soon? Where will all these technology going to take us? I reserve my comments and leave it to my reader to decide and tell me what they think.
I will surely give my opinion on what I think – Coming soon.
Partha Mazumdar is the founder and designer of https://www.verticalbricks.com.au/ an online property platform. He has interest in changing market behavior and economics.
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