Innovation is sometimes tied to having to do things to survive and wanting it to be easier to do those things
This is different than competition
Someone alone on a island with no women to impress and no other men to compete with would still try to invent easier ways to accomplish their survival goals
@shortstories yeah that’s another interesting point, humans invent tools and technologies to make survival easier, ie spears and bows and arrows to hunt when we were still hunter gatherers. Technology makes survival easier for the majority of people hence why it’s constantly getting better.