"There was nothing really, nothing that would have been. Just round water and flat sea. Everything in itself."1

How is it possible that similar inventions appear independently of each other, at different times and in distant places? They appear, disappear and then reappear hundreds or hundreds of years later on another continent. Is there a universal knowledge to which everyone has access or is it only available to a narrow group of people? Is it possible that distant civilisations have somehow come into contact or is it just a coincidence that
that so many discoveries have been made in the same way? Or are the ethnologists and anthropologists who believe that people everywhere think in the same way right? Confronted with similar problems, under similar environmental, economic and cultural conditions, it is possible that the same things appear independently on distant continents.

The sacred book of the Mayan-Kicse Indians, Popol Vuh , describes four creations. Gods created man for the fourth time, who became so perfect that he saw everything and had all knowledge. After some deliberation, the gods took back some of this infinite knowledge after a few days, because they realized that if humans were just like them, they would not be respected and nurtured. But they left them with enough knowledge to discover and create great things.

Imagination, ingenuity and creative energy have been equally distributed throughout human history. However, an inventor can only have an impact on his fellow human beings if a sufficient number of people in a given society are psychologically prepared to develop. (Claude Lévi-Strauss)
Population pressure and environmental degradation are forcing newer and more effective techniques (Marvin Harris).

Development brings destruction - as it did with the Mayans: overpopulation, exploitation of environmental resources,
constant warfare, and by the time the Spanish conquistadors arrived, their cities were long depopulated and covered by rainforest.
For how long can the destruction of the environment continue and how long will the destruction be ostensibly covered up by the achievements of civilisation?