The Pantaloon : Toys And Eye Candy : Brother Wagwit

The Pantaloon
Edited by Brother Wagwit
Earlyish in the 21st Century

Toys & Eye Candy (Killer App)

Kill. Entertain. Copulate. Ever since Homo Sapiens entered center stage, the intent has always been the same: To accomplish either one, or all three of these.

To be fair, these traits are present in all of the animal kingdom. But in animals it is instinct. In humans it is intent. And intent is a different order of things.

Yes, many examples of creative expression have come from human intent. Cave paintings and tool-making, tents, castles, towns, cities, knives, arrows, bullets, a-bombs, horses, carriages, chariots, cars, airplanes, rockets, smoke signals, telegraph, telephone, television, the internet, mobile phones, etc. However, in every one of these instances, the driving motivations have always been tactical superiority and more satisfying diversions; with the ultimate goal of getting the girl. Or the boy. Or the land.

For thousands of years we have been creating toys of war for the few, which have later become toys of consumption and recreation for the many. The catapults of Roman sieges took centuries to surface as festively wrapped toys under Christmas trees. And even in the brevity of the last century or so, we have gone from the Battle Of The Bulge to Fortnite, and from Guernica’s depiction of war horrors to celebratory selfies from the Ukrainian front.

When idealists wax poetic about the inexorable progress of humanity towards a higher order, a more enlightened society, they are missing the point. For any student of history, it’s remarkably clear that toys in fact have enjoyed a superb, superlative, evolutionary progress. Yet human intent has remained exactly the same.

A rose by any other name is a killer app. In the end, all we want is to have stuff, look good, and get laid.

Mirror, mirror on my iPhone wall. Am I the fairest of you all?