Somewhere around 3,400 years ago, a group of military commanders found themselves in a bit of trouble.
Their army was surrounded.
They needed reinforcements. Soldiers, horses, chariots. The whole works.
So they sent a message to the king asking for help.
And apparently, they included a little something extra.
Essentially, if you don’t send reinforcements, don’t blame us when this whole thing goes to hell.
I love that.
Here they are, facing a potentially disastrous military defeat, and somebody is making damn sure the responsibility is properly documented.
You can almost picture the conversation.
“We need more soldiers.”
“And horses.”
“Chariots, too.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah. Make sure he knows this isn’t our fault.”
The message was written on a clay tablet, part of the administrative world of the ancient Hittites. It survived for roughly 3,400 years before archaeologists brought it back into the light.
Think about that.
We’ve gone from horses and chariots to airplanes, computers, satellites, and artificial intelligence.
And somewhere, right now, somebody is sending an email that says:
“As previously discussed...”
Thirty-four hundred years of progress.
At least now we have a CC button.