Tools are instruments, objects, or devices used to extend human ability to modify the environment or accomplish specific tasks. I personally find it hard to believe that humankind as we know it is the first iteration of beings who have advanced consciousness. That being said, let us consider how tools have brought our planetary civilization to the present. The overall department of study is Anthropology which is the study of people, past and present, with a focus on understanding the human condition both culturally and biologically. There are four subsets and for this discussion we will look at Archaeology. The timeline for the first development of tools, from discoveries at Lake Turkana, Kenya, is projected to be 3.3 million years ago. However, these extremely primitive tools did not have a significant effect for hunter-gatherer societies until early humans made the transition to permanent agricultural settlements around 10,000 years ago. This transformation was enabled first by the emergence of copper and later bronze which was the end of the stone age. These new tools allowed humans to clear large areas of land to create rural villages which was the beginning of civilization as we experience it today. Tools obviously have separated the human species gradually, but over time their effect has been monumental. I would say, “tools are cool”, although my grandson would say, “tools are epic!”