Comment Re:Well, not really (Score 2) 278
Plumbing didn't take care of basic needs, it refined them. We've had means of waste displosal before the 20th century, outhouses and such, modern plumbing just made it more convenient.
I think if you're going to start arguing about basic needs, at the extremes you can say once we had women to fuck and meat to eat, our needs ended there something thousand years ago (male perspective obviously). Everything since then has just been a refinement of those two goals.
Plus innovation might have unseen consequences, like the printing press, which started with bringing the bible to the masses, it eventually also brought them cheap education and information. It has permanently changed the way governments act. At the time, it probably just seemed like a refinement of hand lettering, much like the internet seems just like a refinement of commercials, newspapers, and people on streetside soap boxes. With any luck, it'll become something greater than that.
I think if you're going to start arguing about basic needs, at the extremes you can say once we had women to fuck and meat to eat, our needs ended there something thousand years ago (male perspective obviously). Everything since then has just been a refinement of those two goals.
Plus innovation might have unseen consequences, like the printing press, which started with bringing the bible to the masses, it eventually also brought them cheap education and information. It has permanently changed the way governments act. At the time, it probably just seemed like a refinement of hand lettering, much like the internet seems just like a refinement of commercials, newspapers, and people on streetside soap boxes. With any luck, it'll become something greater than that.
