There was a TV show. Stephen Fry 100 greatest gadgets.
For 1 he told a story about how some guy was talking to a largely uncontacted tribe and they were really interested in their tech.
So he knew they would have a supply drop and took them out to see the plane for the first time ever. The tribe was remarkable unimpressed with the sight.
The guy asked what was up and they came back with the reply “You can make fire from your fingertips. Of course you can fly”
I suppose it really depends on your perspective. If you’re that uncontacted tribe, you see birds all the time. The idea of a creature being able to fly is pretty mundane. Humans can’t naturally fly like birds, but neither can they naturally wield knives as long and sharp as tiger claws. But flying is ultimately just duplicating something already found in nature.
But the ability to instantly and effortlessly summon fire? The closest thing in nature is the bombardier beetle, and that shoots boiling acid. Impressive, but it’s not true fire. There are no creatures in nature that can just summon fire on command. From a natural perspective, instantly creating fire is a lot more impressive than a flying machine.
There was a TV show. Stephen Fry 100 greatest gadgets.
For 1 he told a story about how some guy was talking to a largely uncontacted tribe and they were really interested in their tech.
So he knew they would have a supply drop and took them out to see the plane for the first time ever. The tribe was remarkable unimpressed with the sight.
The guy asked what was up and they came back with the reply “You can make fire from your fingertips. Of course you can fly”
He named the lighter the number 1 gadget.
I suppose it really depends on your perspective. If you’re that uncontacted tribe, you see birds all the time. The idea of a creature being able to fly is pretty mundane. Humans can’t naturally fly like birds, but neither can they naturally wield knives as long and sharp as tiger claws. But flying is ultimately just duplicating something already found in nature.
But the ability to instantly and effortlessly summon fire? The closest thing in nature is the bombardier beetle, and that shoots boiling acid. Impressive, but it’s not true fire. There are no creatures in nature that can just summon fire on command. From a natural perspective, instantly creating fire is a lot more impressive than a flying machine.