Dear Humans,

Lately we’ve been reading a lot about nails. The final gold rivet in the Empire State Building, the Romans’ reliance on them, and Carl Sandburg singing the praises of those that hold up “skyscraper[s] through blue nights into white stars.”

Nails are everywhere. And though we take them for granted, they have completely changed how we live. A book I’m reading about the history of technology argues that nails were revolutionary for the simple reason that they allowed humans to first put different materials together.

Before, we’d make tools out of a single stone or boats out of a single log, but once we learned to put things together, the possibilities of creation–skyscrapers, spaceships, submarines–were endless.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt