Yes I’m still on my sonic-screwdriver/multi-tool kick. Their fictional provenance is wands and staffs of course, but their real historical provenance is fascinating.
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For example it didn’t hit me till I thought about it, but the HHG towel has a real provenance in a primal widget. Handkerchiefs and neck-kerchiefs in the west and actual towels or turban towels (hence towelhead as a slur) in Asia.
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In India the traditional men’s upper garment is a thin towel. It got refined into a non-functional towel, such as Narendra Modi often sports. Fancy ones are often made of very non-towel material like silk. Unlike HHG towels, the stripes do not contain nutrients you can suck on.pic.twitter.com/SCKXYXPDQG
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Fine, fine sub “middle class” for “almost everybody”
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Laurian Gridinoc
Missed an important one. Matches (and lighters, flint/steel etc)https://twitter.com/gridinoc/status/1313612839400157185 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jerseyan 🇺🇸 📜
Not sure shoes belong on the list. Yes they’re a fairly sophisticated tech, but they’re actually in-use continuously as clothing, not just carried as an optionality widget. Also excluding jewellery and religious/magical objects that serve no practical purpose.https://twitter.com/JerseyanUSA/status/1313614150254424071 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Eli is actually offline for a week
Keys are a big one I missed. Tobacco type things (also hip flasks, chewing gum), hmm... mood-altering tech. Kinda borderline, but I think they qualify. Photos of people... I think out. They’re not tech. Same as crucifixes or charms, just personal.
https://twitter.com/arborrito/status/1313614883947192320 …Venkatesh Rao added,
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Hmm. Belts are an interesting case. In the form of a sash or cummerbund, they’re just a variant on the towel theme, but the leather buckled kind perhaps qualifies. Kinda unit asked though, unless you make it a platform by adding apps like holsters, scabbards, etc.
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Hmm. Money as ultimate social tech multitool
Swiss-army knife of consensual microeconomic stabbings2 replies 1 retweet 12 likesShow this thread
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