Conventional wisdom suggests man's greatest historical invention to be the wheel; the argument born from its use as the first tool of expanding all physical elements to develop civilisation. This is a subjective discussion, of course, and it is easy to argue this superlative for many other constructions of mankind; language, electricity, powered flight, central heating... the list essentially endless. You can even stretch as far as to suggest the humble Cricket Bat to be man's greatest tool; though the reason why, is down to each individual perception.
Trouble is, every last one of these global influencers are - in my view, not really unique creations of our species at all - as opposed to discoveries, which nature handed us to build upon. It is much like a Nursery Teacher dropping a Lego set within a sitting circle of infants; one produces a wall, another a robot, and a third doesn't even begin to piece any blocks together, merely chewing on the pieces. This leaves one solitary product of life which I consider of man and man alone. Unless anyone can come up with anything of similar nature - and if you can, please do, there is only one genuine, true invention on this planet... the concept of Money.
First of all, I am not referring to physical coins of Gold, Silver, or Copper. These carry a genuine value through the material derived from. What I refer to is the first instances in which those in possession of mass coinage, would hand their wealth to a trusted holder, for safe keeping. In doing so, a small promissory note (An I.O.U, as such), was exchanged to the coins owner as an official reference, to avoid theft; thus beginning the first invention of paper, classed as capital. Man took the discoveries of ink from iron salts, and paper from the pulping of trees, and combined to make a creation which was solely his own.
As it grew to a level of power unparalleled in existence, it slowly learned to control the purity of religion, distort the connective influence of communication through words, operate processes of electricity and flight, and eventually find itself chased by the majority of global society; like some kind of mythical dragon we never even see. Our perceptions of success, power, strength and dominance, all held tight in its cold, heartless grasp... and yet in a strange, ironic sense of tragic comedy - it doesn't even exist. If you don't believe me, consider this; if society crumbles tomorrow, and we are left without banks, governments, taxation and general law in all its forms, how much value would a piece of paper with a number on it - or figures on a computer screen, actually have? The wheel, electricity, and the like shall continue to exist and be of worth, but besides the retaining of heat though fires - as much as with any form of paper, money becomes truly worthless; its true light, exposed by natures sometimes vicious hand.
So maybe we afford money the power we do, because it doesn't really belong to any religion, or God, or element of natures possible master-plan. And in that strangely narcissistic way - in which our species convinces each other to believe we are this planets sole harbingers, we embrace our one true creation as our own very human God, because it is ours and ours alone; try buying the love of a Dog with a £50.00 note - if he can't eat it, he don't give a shit. Then again, perhaps money is in fact a creation of God, and we are being tested in how we handle the stock we afford a product both cold and soulless; one we have turned into a very necessary evil, in our perceptions of Homo-Sapien progression.
I guess this means we are failing, as we all need it to operate into the systems we are born into. But remember, there is one absolute truth proven time and time again, by, ironically, time itself. Every beginning has an end, and every system eventually gives way to a new one. Maybe the next greatest human invention, will be that which replaces money... but I sure hope the sequel learns from its predecessor.
Now give me lots of cash, so I can prove it doesn't corrupt me. ;-)
Lee.
Trouble is, every last one of these global influencers are - in my view, not really unique creations of our species at all - as opposed to discoveries, which nature handed us to build upon. It is much like a Nursery Teacher dropping a Lego set within a sitting circle of infants; one produces a wall, another a robot, and a third doesn't even begin to piece any blocks together, merely chewing on the pieces. This leaves one solitary product of life which I consider of man and man alone. Unless anyone can come up with anything of similar nature - and if you can, please do, there is only one genuine, true invention on this planet... the concept of Money.
First of all, I am not referring to physical coins of Gold, Silver, or Copper. These carry a genuine value through the material derived from. What I refer to is the first instances in which those in possession of mass coinage, would hand their wealth to a trusted holder, for safe keeping. In doing so, a small promissory note (An I.O.U, as such), was exchanged to the coins owner as an official reference, to avoid theft; thus beginning the first invention of paper, classed as capital. Man took the discoveries of ink from iron salts, and paper from the pulping of trees, and combined to make a creation which was solely his own.
As it grew to a level of power unparalleled in existence, it slowly learned to control the purity of religion, distort the connective influence of communication through words, operate processes of electricity and flight, and eventually find itself chased by the majority of global society; like some kind of mythical dragon we never even see. Our perceptions of success, power, strength and dominance, all held tight in its cold, heartless grasp... and yet in a strange, ironic sense of tragic comedy - it doesn't even exist. If you don't believe me, consider this; if society crumbles tomorrow, and we are left without banks, governments, taxation and general law in all its forms, how much value would a piece of paper with a number on it - or figures on a computer screen, actually have? The wheel, electricity, and the like shall continue to exist and be of worth, but besides the retaining of heat though fires - as much as with any form of paper, money becomes truly worthless; its true light, exposed by natures sometimes vicious hand.
So maybe we afford money the power we do, because it doesn't really belong to any religion, or God, or element of natures possible master-plan. And in that strangely narcissistic way - in which our species convinces each other to believe we are this planets sole harbingers, we embrace our one true creation as our own very human God, because it is ours and ours alone; try buying the love of a Dog with a £50.00 note - if he can't eat it, he don't give a shit. Then again, perhaps money is in fact a creation of God, and we are being tested in how we handle the stock we afford a product both cold and soulless; one we have turned into a very necessary evil, in our perceptions of Homo-Sapien progression.
I guess this means we are failing, as we all need it to operate into the systems we are born into. But remember, there is one absolute truth proven time and time again, by, ironically, time itself. Every beginning has an end, and every system eventually gives way to a new one. Maybe the next greatest human invention, will be that which replaces money... but I sure hope the sequel learns from its predecessor.
Now give me lots of cash, so I can prove it doesn't corrupt me. ;-)
Lee.
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