“The first great technological innovation in this ancient and primitive society,” the documentary host said with a small chuckle, “was the idea of attaching a very big blunt rock to the end of a very long stick to smash their enemies and prey at a relatively-safe distance, rather than attempting to engage them at closer range and bash them with a somewhat-smaller pointy rock held in the hand…”
A pause for effect as the camera passed across the array of crude clay-and-reed huts and their hide-clad dwellers.
“Needless to say, with the concept of weaponry established, things more-or-less spiraled down from there, and it remains nothing short of a miracle that they still exist today, and still in the same relatively primitive ‘wood, bone, and stone’ stage of technological development as they were thousands of years ago…”
It was at that point one of the “primitives” could be seen in a hut in the background, passing by an open window… with what clearly appeared to be a laptop computer tucked under one arm.
(#00703 - A338)
“What?” Tel boggled at the outtake. “These people are pre-tech. We checked. They’re definitely pre-space. How the flip—?”
“Never heard of asymmetrical development?” said a newcomer. Not one of his camera crew.
One of the natives. She was still wearing animal skins and feathers.
There was no way they could have learned Tel’s language. No way they could have seen where the hide was. Where his base camp was…
And yet…
There she was, in living colour.
“How—?”
“We didn’t think it was necessary to have architecture. We worked on our minds and philosophy and -yes- technology.”
“But your homes, your weapons… How can you have advanced technology and live in mud huts?”
“The need for huts is recent. We couldn’t stay in the caves, following the comet strike. Our geology’s become unstable and we’ve had to adapt.”
The native -Zerka- took Tel on a tour of the most stable of their previously industrial caves. Most of the space was taken up by manufacturing equipment. Still and silent, now.
Starting to rust.
“Because the comet caused massive tectonic shifting, we have to rebuild above ground. Until recently, we’ve had no need of architecture. We still have teams working on the most stable and safest designs.”
“Really?”
“We’ve got into the habit of making sure everything works before we turn it into reality. That’s why all our technology uses background radiation as a source of power. It lets us gather and hunt and then devote our downtime to more cerebral pursuits.”
That night, Tel entered the a clay hut with Zerka to watch in awe as a team of ‘primitives’ ran simulations over a cloud network that relied on subterranean beacons instead of satellites.
There was always an opportunity to learn. And Tel was glad to be proven wrong.
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