We are, by our very nature, explorers and observers. There are others who say that humans are a people who love to subjugate, to take over and control but this isn’t true at all. That’s not what we do at our core though it is what a lot of people have chosen to do, always for ill gain. People are constantly searching for new horizons, for new things they can see and hear and feel. You don’t just have to explore new cliffs and lands, after all. Left without new lands to explore in this century, we explore the insides of our minds and bodies. We throw machines into the dark, hoping to explore the blackness outside of our planet. But space isn’t the only place left to explore. We have a whole unexplored realm left on Earth, much closer than space though it doesn’t always feel like it. Though we can light our shores with underwater dock lights and underwater marine lights, much of the ocean is left dark and unexplored. For as much of it has we have mapped and scanned with gps, there is still so much don’t know. But we’ve been living with the ocean for thousands of years and it has influenced our development through all of that time, underwater dock lights or no. Let’s take a closer look at this idea.
The ocean at the beginning
It’s an exciting and mysterious scene, when you actually think about it. Picture the first groups of humans to reach the ocean. While other, earlier humans, when we were still developing, likely saw the ocean, imagine the first group of humans that could record, understand and pass down the stories of the ocean to their children. Imagine them standing on its shores, trying to understand what was on the other side. It must have felt like staring into the sky or life itself and trying to figure out where you would be at the exact moment you were going to die. It was endless and mysterious and rife with possibility. There were no led dock lights or marine dock lights to even light up the sides of the shore. They had no idea what lay on its surface, let alone deep in its depths. Back then, at the beginning of civilization, they were forced to wonder about so many things. The ocean was seen as primal, eternal and the home of the gods. How could it not be? At least, this was the truth for many land-locked civilizations. In Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, the societies on land learned to fear and respect the power of the ocean as well as the bounty it could provide. There were no blue underwater led lights to lead their way forward into the shallows. They had to be incredibly careful.
Opportunities arising, waves crashing
Of course, this changed over the course of written history. While at first it was only a few, adaptable civilizations, the Norse, Phoenicians and, of course most all the Oceanic civilizations, that learned to live primarily on the sea, gradually other civilizations began to see the potential. Even without those underwater dock lights, they still strove forward and began to build bigger ships with the more advanced tools they had developed. The ocean slowly became less a place to fear and revere than it was a place to be conquered by the might of endless kings.
Growing stronger, growing smarter
Technology continued to march on and, of course, today, we view the ocean as place of recreation and power more than a place to be feared. It’s still awesome and powerful but it’s more a simple barrier that grows less important as cultures begin to become more connected. It’s a place of trade and ideas, not a place to be afraid of. We developed those underwater dock lights and speed boats and shipping lanes and we went on our merry way. But, deep down within us, we still hold that spark of awe. Just go look out on the ocean on any day when you’re nearby. You’ll feel it calling it to you. That horizon showing us ways forward.