Tools

[aqualights]

Man has ruled the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years, and to this very day is still the supreme ruler of the planet. Not only that, but in the past hundred years he has been trying to conquer and subdue neighboring planets. How did man rise on top of all food chains? How was man able to bestow himself as a god among other animals and nature ? How did man advance ?

A very short answer to these questions is : Tools. A tool is a physical object that can be utilized for a certain purpose. We use tools in our everyday lives for almost everything from soap to satellites, soap is a tool that helps us kill bacteria and live longer by not contracting diseases, while the latter is a tool that enhances our communication abilities. And since a few thousand years ago there have been tools that are used to make other tools.
As far as uncovered fossil evidence, it all started with the ancient oldowan tools that appeared 2.6 million years ago. Later on humans developed their tools to make them more efficient and suitable for their changing environments up to the neolithic period. Bear in mind that several species of homo(humans)coexisted in these periods, and therefore tools slightly differed from one part of the old world to another.

An Oldowan stone tool

Neolithic axe heads

Early humans continued to develop their tools. Their primitive stone tools were refined and then enhanced by the introduction of metal tools. Currently every field of science depends on tools, one way or the other. Biologists can't make their experiments or research without the modern tools that allow them. The same for physicists, chemists, and astronomers.

Our heavy dependency on tools is obvious. Man and other primates do not have the physical strength or properties to meet their basic needs, therefore they used and are still using tools. Only man has developed and is still developing his tools which gave him an advantage over other primates that remain largely content with what they have been using as tools perhaps for millions of years.
Chimpanzees have been observed making relatively sophisticated tools such as spears, termite catching rods, and using heavy stones as a tool to crack open nuts. Bonobos (a species of Chimpanzee) have been taught to use the same tools humans used about 2 million years ago, and also some modern tools.

Kanzi the bonobo making its own primitive human tools to solve a problem

Kanzi using modern tools

So this begets the question, why didn't apes develop their tools such as their human counterparts? Chimpanzees can make their own tools without human interference, and learn how to use human tools in their ancient and modern types.
Perhaps the answer might be in brain capacity and/or theorizing power (however they may be related) and cultural traits differences between human and chimpanzee.

In any case, the human genus clearly depends on tools for survival and advancement, and that is probably the main reason why we are what we are today and why we have what we have today.
It might seem that we are living in the end of days for humankind or at least the end of technological breakthroughs for the pessimist. For the optimist , we are on the verge of even greater breakthroughs.
However,the human developed his tools using his thinking or theorizing power in order to fulfill his needs. The human also understood that to fulfill his needs he will need to make certain tools through trial and error and enhancing them for their effectiveness.
Unfortunately our modern tools depend on fossil fuels and scarce material that one day will run out. So what is in store for the future homo-sapiens (humans)? Will the dependency on tools continue ? Will we find less finite materials? Or is there another way to survive without tools?

[ronians1]

Surely apes have not developed tools to the extent that humans have done because they have not experienced the mutation that enabled humans to posess the higher intelligence required for this feat.

 

The posture adopted by apes does not release the hands to manipulate things such as tools etc to the extent that the upright posture of humans does. Thus this increased use of the hands resulted in greater experimentation with tools in humans which in turn resulted in more sophisticated implements.