The Wright Brothers Thomas Edison

Airplanes, lightbulbs and warfare: cultural inventions, the product of human imagination. The expression of human desire and articulation of human fantasy. 

It's not difficult to understand why we enjoy lightbulbs, enabling us to see and do things when it is dark. An excellent example of the "functional" theory of culture.

It is somewhat more difficult to comprehend why human beings decided they wanted to fly. But not that difficult: a human desire or phantasy. To escape the gravitational pull of the earth and to soar like a bird. To travel to exotic locations in record time. To visit relatives and friends and lovers who do not live near us.

But why did human beings invent war, the product of which is depicted in the photo on the upper left of this Newsletter.

Richard Koenigsberg