Look at any group of small children in a line-the children will inevitably be comparing themselves. Who is taller? Who is heavier? While this comparison is possible simply by sight, measuring through standardized units allows everyone to compare their heights, weights, and other data to individuals not within their direct line of vision. They can compare themselves against the 'norm'-just as their parents can see if their weights fall in an unhealthy range, and if their blood pressure, heart rate, etc. is 'normal.' Measurements thus allow a norm to be established, and deviations from the norm to be recorded and noted more easily. Because of measurement we gain clearer a sense of our bodies and selves as normal or not normal, healthy or unhealthy.
             Without measurement, time would be impossible to measure in a precise fashion. Without a clock, people would note the passing of the day by the rising and setting of the sun, but to have a structured workday, to schedule a meeting for 3 o'clock requires an agreed-upon sense of time in measured units.
             The traditional grind of the standardized workday and the mechanization of daily life require measurement-and so does the modern monetary system. Using money requires measurement, so that goods can be exchanged in a non-bartered system. Money is a placeholder because it can be measured into standard units, and monetary exchange of different international units of currency enables trade between nations, making the world smaller.
             Measurement also makes the exchange of cultural information easier-a person does not need to observe his or her Italian grandmother cooking the perfect marinara sauce, instead they can read the measurements from a hand-written note or a cookbook.
             And measurement also enables engineering to take place on a more sophisticated level-without precise measurement, suspension bridges, great works of architecture, and the homes we live in wo...