When caveman Uhg invented fire

When caveman Uhg invented fire, he had some trouble-makers bothering
him.

One trouble-maker was Grr, the academician. Grr hounded Uhg with many
questions. Did you use both hands while rubbing the sticks together?
Where is your academic treaties explaining your research and how the
rubbing of sticks brings forth fire? Did you do all the necessary
experiments to determine if this is the proper and safe way to heat a
cave? Can you point to the spot in the Scroll of the Learned where it
says that you can use a stick in that manner?

The clan kicked Grr out of the cave and he froze to death that winter.

Another trouble-maker was Oof, the merchant. Since Oof's legs were
eaten by a sabertooth tiger, he could not join the others in hunting
and food gathering. Instead, he spent his time crawling near his cave
to find colorful, shinny pebbles which he polished and gave to the
female species in exchange for food. Oof claimed that since most
members of the clan spent the majority of their time hunting and
gathering food, that they could not be experts in the making of fire.
He proposed the idea that only he and Uhg be allowed to start a fire
and anyone who needed a fire in their cave should pay a tribute of food
to have one started.

The entire clan agreed that Oof be allowed to sell all the fire that he
wants to sell. Then they relocated him to a cave in an area that was
devoid of any sticks or other items that might burn. Oof froze to
death that winter.

[This story is translated from versus 14 to 27 of Chapter Zero of
Genesis - the recently rediscovered Chronicles of Uhg.]

Somehow, throughout history, mankind managed to change the way the clan
works and we now have three classes of society in this modern structure
we call civilization. One class is real: the hobby class. The other
two are artificial: the merchant/industry class and the academic
class. The merchant/industry class strives to meet the needs of the
masses but puts its own interests first. Inventions seem to arise from
the merchant/industry class. The purpose of the academic class is to
prepare members of the hobby class for participation in the
merchant/industry class. The academic class also seems to advance the
state of the art by way of inventions. The hobbyist simply invents.
In fact, all inventions come from the hobby class - because it is the
hobbyist that makes up the academic and merchant/industry class.
Without the hobby class, the other two classes simply would not exist.

Inventions tend to challenge conventional thinking and standard
practices on a subject. It is then understandable that unconventional
ideas are often attacked by both those who hold to conventional
approaches and by those who hold to other unconventional ideas. Fear
is the motivation for these attacks. Inventors feel threatened by
continued use of a conventional idea or the growing use of another's
unconventional idea. There have been many examples in this newgroup
where an inventor issues a direct (or indirect) attack against those he
feels threatened by.


Nathan.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: When caveman Uhg invented fire
    ... One trouble-maker was Grr, the academician. ... The clan kicked Grr out of the cave and he froze to death that winter. ... The merchant/industry class strives to meet the needs of the ... state of the art by way of inventions. ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: Matches
    ... to fire up those cigars you puff on sometimes. ... wonderful inventions. ...
    (alt.smokers.pipes)