20170310 (ingenuity II)

Hardly the stone age, certainly not the nuclear age, but the goal has always been the same--kill
the other guys better, faster, cheaper.

Technology’s incremental growth

Accelerates in wartime as if the

Weapons of previous years are 

Not enough to guarantee victory

This time around. Granted it was

Markedly slower in ancient and

Medieval periods compared to

Today, although any visit to a

Museum of history will show

Considerable development if 

Only through paintings and 

Tapestries if they don’t display

Examples of the arms themselves.

Our age strained all the envelopes

And benefitted from waves of

Change in every science.

Byproducts of the era of straighter

Shooting rifles were better types

Of iron. The standardization of

Rifle parts led to assembly line

Production. For peacetime progress

I could point out the essentials of 

Computer memory were stored

In textile cards that made possible

Automatic weaving. But more

Innovations proceeded by far

From the decryption of military

Codes during the life and death

Struggle known as World War II.

Even our remarkable achievements 

In space were more grounded in 

Flinging nuclear bombs across

Continents than from healthy

Curiosity about the composition

Of lunar dust. The first use of

Telescopes was to locate warships'

Masts emerging above the  

Horizons for greater time to staff

The battlements. In 1861, 

Before Andrew Carnegie became

Famous for iron and steel, he

Wired the wide territories of the

Civil War for instantaneous

Telegraphy. In my commentary

For International Women’s Day,

By focusing on Ms Smith’s

Tiny but revolutionary designs,

In addition to giving my three

(Soon to be four) granddaughters

A hero to admire and emulate,

I wanted to illustrate that not all

Helpful technology is born of

The insane fratricide we call

Defense. Our life and death

Issues are widely known: disease,

Hunger, shelter, natural disasters.

Yet in our rush to slaughter each

Other more quickly, cheaply,

And efficiently we let these

Desperate needs go begging--

Splurging without limit to 

Forestall fears of our own conceit. 

What a waste of ingenuity.

c. J.S.Manista, 2017