Once upon a time, from the swirling dusts of a nascent solar system, and with an oxygen-rich, life-sustaining atmosphere, there emerged a gigantic abode for Mankind called Planet Earth.
Once the new-born came to organize itself among its brethren into concentric shells, its continents, oceans, and atmosphere came into being, and eventually life emerged on it. Of all its siblings in the solar system, Planet Earth had proven to be the most benevolent, endowed as it was with varied assets that made it habitable, and, by implication, welcoming to Mankind.
There was an even broader dimension to those privileges; as far as humanity was concerned, its resources made it a congenial milieu for laying the groundwork of civilization. Nonetheless, to be habitable, and even hospitable, did not mean that it had always been the land of milk and honey. Planet Earth was never utopian!
Over the centuries, and up until this present day, Man has been incessantly endeavoring to make his existence more comfortable; hence, setting his creativity to work to come up with a plethora of inventions. Not only are these inventions a tangible manifestation of Man’s ingenuity, but they have also proven to be a measuring yard for charting the history of human development.
Bare necessities they have become; in this context, one cannot but highlight the widely propagated proverb “necessity is the mother of invention”. Practically speaking, it is impossible to study the history of human science and development without turning to a set of bare necessities that have become part and parcel of Man’s existence.
In each and every age and culture, inventions form the pinnacle of human development. Occurring in varied contexts within the continuum of technological development, the nature and scope of man’s inventions reveal how imperative they are to our modern lives. Throughout human history, these bare necessities have enabled man to alter the very course of life on Planet Earth, yielding far-reaching consequences in all walks of life.
On the other side of the spectrum, drastic changes in climate; ever-increasing population growth; mounting levels of pollution; devastating nuclear contamination; shortage of water supplies; scarcity of food; among a barrage of other manifestations of environmental impairment, have come to pose a potent threat to Man’s relationship to Planet Earth. This, in its turn, necessitates a systematic plan to counter the setbacks of technological innovation.
In short, these bare necessities have become indispensable to the point of their being interwoven into the very fabric of our daily existence on Planet Earth.
Cover image by rawpixel.com on Freepik.
This article was first published in print in SCIplanet, Bare Necessities (Winter 2015) issue.