Saving MAN

History will cite an impressive timeline of inventions that have shaped humanity. Stone tools made an appearance around three million years ago. A tad over a million years later the control of fire is thought to have been harnessed by our distant cousin Homo habilis, whilst in 1300 BC the industrialization of iron smelting kicked off in the Middle East. In more contemporary times we have, quite rightly, celebrated the invention of the internal combustion engine, telephone, television, and the jet engine, just to mention a smidgen of humankind’s creative magnificence. Yet, as I review the innovations that have in my opinion been essential for human enterprise, I cannot shake off the 1997 Shania Twain classic, ‘That don’t impress me much’ when viewed expressly from a male perspective. Therefore, an alternative list is wholly necessary in order that the specific challenge of masculinity can be safeguarded for future generations. Compare this, if you will, with the development of the concept of Wonders of the World. Initially, we had the original cadre of The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes, and The Lighthouse of Alexandria. Then followed by, amongst others, the wonders of the natural, new and industrial ‘Worlds’. So, I have great pleasure in introducing you to the eight inventions that have saved men. Not a top ten as, contrary to mythology, men