The ideas behind what comprises convenience at home have certainly changed a great deal over the span of human history. Expediency and ease are concepts that not just anybody could demand or even possibly implement. No quick fixes or fast food, no ready to use, ready to wear, or easy anything was available. Trade, invention, and the desire to make a better life have driven up the expectation of how quickly and easily many everyday things are accomplished.
Our species distinguishes itself from other animals mainly by our use of intelligence to solve problems. One of the chief aims of our intelligence seems to be in finding ways to make our lives easier. In our earliest beginnings, the shear battle for survival left little energy for much else, but our minds dreamed of unusual approaches, and some of what we tried worked. As we accumulated technology and tools, more work could be done with less effort (by the wealthy or noble), and concepts of leisure were formed.
Very early on we utilized fire, animal and human power in our technology. The human power was often by slavery. Ease and expediency was certainly the province of the rich, with improvements handed down to the workers via the "trickle-down theory". Today convenience is still available based on the ability to pay.
Early technology centered on the harnessing of fire, the development of hand tools and other simple machines. Fire made for a big bump in our standard of living, of course. It also made better tool-making techniques. All manner of containers, wood and stone working tools, and weapons were developed that made our survival both likelier and easier.
The advent of steam and electrical power created the "industrial revolution". The manufacture of huge surpluses of goods was possible for the first time. The luxury of the upper classes was unprecedented. While all was not roses for the workers, the ability to afford laborsaving household devices was within their means.
In the "digital" age, many of the gadgets we take for granted would seem like magic in an earlier time. Imagine what the Inquisition would make of a working television? We depend more and more on our computers, and digital logic is found in almost every machine we use, like our cars, planes, ovens, and many others. This burgeoning new technology is getting smarter and of course we are using it for many tasks people once had to do - in its way it has replaced slaves as a source of intelligent power.
In the late nineteenth century, some intellectuals felt that all of the really useful discoveries had been made. How delightfully wrong could they have been? In the second decade of the twenty-first century there are wonders and mysteries a-plenty. One thing is certain, as long as we have a new technology it was likely either used or created for convenience at home.
Our species distinguishes itself from other animals mainly by our use of intelligence to solve problems. One of the chief aims of our intelligence seems to be in finding ways to make our lives easier. In our earliest beginnings, the shear battle for survival left little energy for much else, but our minds dreamed of unusual approaches, and some of what we tried worked. As we accumulated technology and tools, more work could be done with less effort (by the wealthy or noble), and concepts of leisure were formed.
Very early on we utilized fire, animal and human power in our technology. The human power was often by slavery. Ease and expediency was certainly the province of the rich, with improvements handed down to the workers via the "trickle-down theory". Today convenience is still available based on the ability to pay.
Early technology centered on the harnessing of fire, the development of hand tools and other simple machines. Fire made for a big bump in our standard of living, of course. It also made better tool-making techniques. All manner of containers, wood and stone working tools, and weapons were developed that made our survival both likelier and easier.
The advent of steam and electrical power created the "industrial revolution". The manufacture of huge surpluses of goods was possible for the first time. The luxury of the upper classes was unprecedented. While all was not roses for the workers, the ability to afford laborsaving household devices was within their means.
In the "digital" age, many of the gadgets we take for granted would seem like magic in an earlier time. Imagine what the Inquisition would make of a working television? We depend more and more on our computers, and digital logic is found in almost every machine we use, like our cars, planes, ovens, and many others. This burgeoning new technology is getting smarter and of course we are using it for many tasks people once had to do - in its way it has replaced slaves as a source of intelligent power.
In the late nineteenth century, some intellectuals felt that all of the really useful discoveries had been made. How delightfully wrong could they have been? In the second decade of the twenty-first century there are wonders and mysteries a-plenty. One thing is certain, as long as we have a new technology it was likely either used or created for convenience at home.
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