Comment by kqr
1 month ago
Not mentioned in TFA: cordage is a critical component in slings, an early, powerful ranged weapon.
With some sort of pulley, rope allows a single human to excert large amounts of force trough leverage, often in ways more convenient than other forms of mechanical leverage. (Such as actual levers.)
Rope can also be used for 1:1 power transfer.
This really reinforces the idea that cordage was less a single invention than a general-purpose mechanical primitive
Indeed. I maintain a mental list of underrated conceptual leaps throughout history and rope is in there. Also on the list is writing, statistics, and the world wide web.
The wheel is overrated. It isn't that innovative (having been invented many times throughout history by various cultures) and to be properly useful it needs environmental adaptations. Controlled fire is neither under- nor overrated, I think.
> I maintain a mental list of underrated conceptual leaps throughout history and rope is in there
One has to wonder how many times they had to be a conceptual leap too. Rope could've been "invented" hundreds of times over the last 100,000 years, depending on how lossy knowledge was.
I think that a huge conceptual leap was the realisation that sex leads to pregnancy. The earliest surviving texts talk of hereditary - implying this was known before writing. This realisation has been the basis of transfer of power and resources, laying the ground for formation of empires and generational blood fueds.
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I feel like even in this thread people are missing a huge one:
Pottery.
Can't have soup without pottery. (nit: you can use some sort of leaf bowl but like, eh)
> early, powerful ranged weapon
Indeed, we've largely missed the point of the "David and Goliath" story. David rolled up to a sword fight with a handgun.