Unbound: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human and Brought Our World to the Brink

by Richard L. Currier

“All truth passes through three stages: first, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; third, it is accepted as self-evident.”

each of these technologies has initiated a major transformation, or metamorphosis, in human life and society. These metamorphoses have revolutionized the structure of our bodies, expanded the capabilities of our minds, and given birth to human societies of unparalleled size and power.

One hundred thousand years ago or more, when we began to use verbal and visual symbols to communicate, we freed ourselves from the limitations of direct personal experience.

We gained the ability to share information over space and time, enabling us to pool our knowledge with others and develop cultures that were passed down through the generations in the oral traditions of song, story, and mythology.

Ten thousand years ago, the technology of agriculture liberated us from the constant search for food that preoccupies every other animal species. In the process, we were no longer bound to the endless wandering that had always been our fate as hunters and gatherers. We began to grow our own food, live in villages, and accumulate both ...

Five thousand years ago, we developed powerful new technologies of transportation and communication. These included large seagoing ships, wagons pulled by beasts of burden, and forms of writing that enabled us to record information for posterity and to communicate with others over vast distances. These technologies of interaction enabled us to build cities, create civilizations, and evolve increasingly sophisticated forms of art, science, comm...

freed us from the limitations of our unaided sensory organs.

technology of reciprocating engines liberated us from our ancient dependence on the physical power of the human body and our beasts of burden.

defined technology—in its widest and most inclusive sense—as the deliberate modification of any natural object or substance with forethought to achieve a specific end or serve a specific purpose.