Inventions and Their Impact in Human Development (Reflection#2)

Human beings' perception of the surrounding world has changed and evolved over time since the origins of human kind as well as humans' abilities to control nature and understand unexplained phenomena. The combination of certain circunstances like location, time, and available resources to a determined population has a deep influence in the way its members think, learn, and behave. This statement can be easily seen throughout human history For example, a caveman did not think the same way a modern man thinks today. First of all, the early hominid species did not have a brain as large as humans today, so they were more close to the animals than to us. These early species performed only basic functions like eating and reproduction. They had to travel in search of food that nature provided them. They also had a perception of the world different from the one human beings have today. For these primitive men, the world was extremely vast and full of unexplained and frightening phenomena. With the appearance of tools to cut and crush like scrapers, hammer stones, and others, primitive men learned that they could use instruments to hunt and improve their control over the elements and nature. The invention of tools was to me the first step in evolution that set apart the human race from animals and started the slow development of the human brain and intelligence. After the tools were invented, primitive men had the opportunity to perfection them which indicates that they were able to learn in order to improve their lives. Another great advance in human history is marked by the control of fire which increased humans' power over the beasts and dangerous animals and allowed primitive men to cook food. I think that by the time men gain control over fire, they had changed their way to see the world. They still had much more ahead to know but at least they were sure about their superiority over other animals with the new haunting instruments and the new marvel of controling fire. I think that once human beings could control nature in somehow, they decided to settle because they did not depend on what mother nature wanted to give them, they were able to take it by themselves. Also, because they could produce fire, they were able to move to colder areas and unnexplored places. This settlement brought about the surge of primitive civilizations, agriculture and domestication of animals. The creation of boats allowed fishing and travel over water, and the invention of the wheel made it much easier to travel by earth. Civilizations grew and keept perfecting their mode
of transportation, so they could travel longer distances, and soon, they discover that the world was not as small as they thought it was. Then, men began to ask themselves what was on the other side of the world, and their imagination flew away to unknow places. Then, adventurers went out looking for new worlds, and soon they circunnavegated the globe coming to the conclusion that the world was round and not flat with an end. Every new invention along history, and every new discover that humans had made amplified the human race horizons and its power. For example, microscopes had allowed humans to know the secret of viruses, and bacteria, so they have been able to find the cure for several diseases. Telescopes had allowed humas to explore galaxys far away from ours and understand our universe. Computers nowadays keep improving people's lives. Humans fear what they do not know, so the more their knowledge grows the less they fear, and humans amplify their knowledge by improving themselves and the instruments they use, and by inventing new tools. Everything began with a simple stone hammer and the dream to control the world. Now that humans control Earth, we keep looking at new horizons looking up to the stars.