Growing up on a farm here in the US, electric fence wire (I think 14ga, not 8ga) was always useful. I almost always had a roll & some snips nearby when doing any maintenance. You can fix some broken electric fence, re-bind the fence paneling to T-stakes, and if desperate cobble together some hinges and a latch for an impromptu gate, all with a simple roll of wire.

A foot or two of this wire and you can whip up a stabilizer for hanging any old tool off of a single nail in the barn. A couple feet of it makes a tie-down for any plant or tree branch, sometimes you don't even need a stake, the wire can be pushed deep enough and into a J shape underground that it'll often hold on its own.

>Growing up on a farm here in the US, electric fence wire (I think 14ga, not 8ga) was always useful.

My dad will mention number 9 clothesline wire in a similar context. Also baling twine and baling wire are common for farmers for the same reason.

Kids be like nowadays: let's 3D print this!

They're much the same as any ad hoc uses of stiff thick fencing wire anywhere really.

Has the world really come to the point where an essay on how to MacGyver with wire is required?

Emergency muffler reattachment, temporary gate latch, ...

It’s the essay on the New Zealand McGyver using no. 8 wire that the world needs.

I believe you're looking for https://www.youtube.com/@MartyT - I think I've actually seen him use wire for holding together a resurrected piece of heavy equipment, and he made a hydroelectric generator out of a washing machine.