Ralph Schoellhammer
In the end, Zeus was right.
When he punished Prometheus for giving fire to humanity, the old Greek god must have known that their days are now numbered. In popular culture we believe that the Promethean fire symbolizes technology and knowledge, but I believe it is much simpler.
The burning stick he gave to humans was in essence the first form of combustion, or the ability to create useful energy via the process of burning things. Once humanity realized that there are ways to transform and employ different forms of energy in addition to muscle power, the emergence of civilization was almost inevitable.
Every step along the way of energy’s evolution human beings became more prosperous, because it freed up time and capacity to do additional things. Once you no longer have to grind cereals into flour by hand but use wind- or watermills instead, you will have an awful amount of additional time available to engage in other activities, yet will still end up with more flour than before.
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