Striking one stone with another to light fire was a technological advancement. That immediately elevated us in the natural order. Using sharp objects to hunt was a technological advancement. From wood to petroleum to now nuclear energy. These are all technological advancements. Even the world of computers has led to us to a place where everything is just a click away.
Take all these advancements away, what are we? One of the weakest species to have graced the earth. No way could we have survived this long without our ability to shape and mould reality according to our needs to survive. We will scale greater heights as long as this one trait in us remains.
Education and in turn society’s only purpose is to encourage this one trait in as many humans as possible. It should promote man’s ability to create knowledge out of the otherwise mysterious and harsh nature of reality. Remember, according to the theory, even a mighty force of nature such as the dinosaurs perished because of a celestial object colliding with the earth. They were wiped out precisely because of the lack of the one trait we posses, that is to create knowledge. We remain curious and create knowledge albeit by making catastrophic mistakes sometimes. But this is the only way.
Typically very few realise this and get lost in various short-sightedness such as competition, peer-pressure, passion, fun and much more. This is not to say that those things don’t help. They certainly do. But only if they remind us why they’re there in the first place. Again, man’s ability to create knowledge.