How Important is the Knife?

[ASBOB]

"If you were trying to name the greatest invention in human history, it would be hard to beat the stone chopping tool and the hand ax. They are the second and third entries in the excellent book “A History of the World in 100 Objects,” based on the British Museum project of the same name. Considered out of context, they are unimpressive things, crude chunks of rock shaped into marginally useful objects. But in the short, brutish lives of our ancestors, these tools were of inestimable value. They marked the crucial turning point when we realized the ability to produce things and began to see the world as malleable to our needs. There is even evidence that making and using these tools helped us learn to talk. And here’s something else: The hand ax was a dominant technology of mankind for more than a million years."


From today's New York Times Magazine Section.

 

[Hawkings]

yeah, but can you baton with it ?

 

[Shotgun]

Edged tools predate modern humans and there's evidence to suggest we wouldn't be here without it. So...pretty important.

 

[bladeboss]

Most animals are BORN with sharp stuff built right in.
Thats how important they are.

 

[heavyfoldersarebest]

Making big things smaller is important! I don't want to eat a 12in cake whole, gotta cut it up.

 

[not2sharp]

"... The hand ax was a dominant technology of mankind for more than a million years."


From today's New York Times Magazine Section.

I doubt that very much. Stone knives were in use for far longer and were just as important for fashioning other tools or processing game and plant material. The first step towards modern tools occured when we learned to bind these hand tools to a haft or handle.

Link to OP article:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/2013/innovations-issue/#/?part=introduction

n2s

 

[the kid]

After a 2 minutes search:
"The earliest documented members of the genus Homo are Homo habilis which evolved around 2.3 million years ago; the earliest species for which there is positive evidence of use of stone tools."

I don't think humans have been around for over a million years (not sure when you can actually start to call the evolving species a human) and we definitely did not invent stone tools.
We learned to use knives from our ancestors.

 

[eschwebach]

It has to be right up there with controlled fire I would think.

Best inventions in human history:

1. Sharpened cutting/piercing tools (knives, axes, spear points, etc...)
2. Fire
3. Wheel
4. Coffee
5. Internet
6. Kate Upton (not really an invention I guess, although I am fairly certain she is not really human)

YMMV