The Essence of Stuff

History tells us that, through centuries and millennia of change, stuff has been discovered, valued and discarded while other stuff has remained more or less unchanged, the stuff that seems destined to be forever our constant companion.

Generally speaking, it’s the abstract stuff that survives. As we now get into our stride in the 21st Century we can be sure that Sony did not recently invent love and that greed and folly were not uniquely spawned at the same time as the Internet.

But while MP3 players are highly likely to be pinned down as an artefact of our age only, since they didn't exist prior to 1991 and will almost certainly be superceded by something else in the next few years, other stuff such as say beer and wine have been around for thousands of years and will probably continue, virtually unchanged, as popular as ever for a few thousand more.

Some might yet survive (or even thrive in) the 21st Century even though their long term future prospects may rival those of a one legged dwarf in an ass-kicking contest.

Of course, some stuff really stays the course but adapts and evolves as time moves on. The written word is a prime example. The means to transcribe what people say into a permanent written record dates back to over 3000 BC when it was used principally for inventory and auditing purposes, and later hijacked by "the authorities" to administer tax and law. Early forms were hand carved, etched into clay, or painted on a flat surface and later we moved up to paper and ink, before settling in for a long time on mechanically printed text. Now we use electronic representations of text, but from the first scratchings on a stone to the screen you're reading from now, it’s all still recognisable to us as writing.

And then again, some stuff goes out of favour for a while then reappears with a modern twist; blood-sucking leeches in medicine to treat wounds and, bizarrely, these as the latest must-have domestic heating solution are two obvious examples.

Some stuff reappears completely unreconstructed save for a spot of rebranding with a trendy new name. Natural childbirth anyone? It means the same as "natural dentistry" and "natural appendectomy" in other words the same old thing but simply omitting anaesthetic.

Of course we will always have Cool Technology - that's the nature of the beast; the crossbow and the VHS video player were once the latest must-have items of technology just as today's and tomorrow's ultimate gadgets will themselves gather dust on a museum shelf someday. But somewhere out there new stuff will emerge to dance upon the stage; some to be almost instantly forgotten, but some stuff will lodge in our affections and stick around a while.

So what stuff will define the 21st Century, either by its coming, its passing or its reappearance? That's what I aim to have some fun exploring.