The Reason For Making

 Why do we make things? 

Okay, shelter is an obvious one, as are tools. But why do we create things beyond necessity? 

Earlier today, I made a dice tower. I cut up two 2x6 soda boxes for raw material and bound the pieces with duct tape. Honestly, it is an ugly, amateurish thing. I crafted it for no other reasons than that I thought I could and felt like doing so. It only took me around forty minutes to make it. And yet, I feel a sense of accomplishment for having done so, taking some old cardboard and turning it into a functioning dice tower. Even as I look over it, designs form in my head on how to construct it better, neater, how to design it that I may share my designs with the world.

When you make something, you lay the groundwork for someone else. We take something, hone and refine it, making it better than it was before. If someone from 100 years ago were to step through time to our era, would they even recognize the world? I think they would, to an extent. Much has changed, and yet many things and ways still persist.

Creating is a way to leave a legacy behind. Many creations have outlived their creators. Case in point: Leonardo da Vinci has been dead for centuries, but the Mona Lisa remains, and is known the world over. Often, the only way to be remembered is to craft something that will carry on your name after your body is no more.

Or is it just something to do because we are bored, and crave mental stimulation?