Brief History of Technology: Around the World in 80 Minutes or Less

Humanities 110 PowerPoint 2

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Humanity and History in Perspective

In February 1990, Voyager 1 took one last photograph of its home planet. Earth appeared as a tiny blue dot in a vast sea of darkness. From http://www.carlsagan.com

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How old is human history?

The most instructive way I know to express this cosmic
chronology is to image the fifteen-billion year lifetime of the universe . . . Compressed into the span of a single year. . . . It is disconcerting to find that in such a cosmic year the Earth does not condense out of interstellar matter until early September; dinosaurs emerge on Christmas Eve; flowers arise on December 28th; and men and women originate at 10:30 p.m. on New years eve. All of human history occupies the last ten seconds of December 31; and the time from the waning of the Middle Ages to the present occupies little more than one second. From Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
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First stage of human history: Nomadic Society

Nomads: humans who lived by hunting and gathering Important innovations included:

Fire: Stone tools:

1.5 M years ago 100,000 years ago

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Second stage:Shift from nomadic to agrarian society

(about 8,000 BC)

Cause: Technology allowed man to produce a reliable, ready source of food.

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Maslows Hierarchy: explaining why and how technologies developed

The theory by Maslow (a 20th century psychologist) states that people will always address their most basic needs such as securing food, water, air, shelter, sex, etc. before being concerned with higher level goals, such as the needs for security, belonging, self esteem, and actualization. This 20th century theory offers a clue about why the earliest technologies helped humans to meet their most basic need: a reliable source of food. For example, a simple rock when attached to a stick became a TOOL to more efficiently secure food. Later this might be used as a simple plow.

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Results of shift to agrarian society

Citiesbeginning of civilization

The word city comes from the root word for civilization. Animals domesticated Crops grown
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Better food

Writing 3,500 BC

Important early users/inventors of technology

8,000 BC-1500 AD Greece, Rome (agriculture, irrigation, buildings, etc.) China (gunpowder and paper)

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Transformation of Major World Societies, 1500-1800

Major cause: printing press first used in Germany about 1450 AD by Gutenberg Tremendous influences of the press, especially on Renaissance Reformation: Martin Luther 1516 Other results

Decreased power of the church as people read for themselves Increased power of science
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British Agricultural Revolution 1500-1850 in England

Massive increase in agricultural productivity Causes:

Enclosure (fencing in grazing areas for animals) Crop Rotation (avoiding soil depletion by growing
different crops from year to year)

Selective Breeding (reproducing the best animals and

crops)

Mechanization
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British Agricultural Revolution Results

Results: More food, cheaper Large population growth
Also influenced by better sanitation and medicine Led to more demand for goods and services

Farmers displaced Industrial Revolution Explosive growth of western cities

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Two great Industrial Revolutions centered in England

1750-1850: First Industrial Revolution 1850-1900: Second Industrial Revolution

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1750-1850:

First Industrial Revolution

Economy based on manual labor switched to one based on machine power. Major invention: Steam engine (invented in early 1700s) used in transportation, textile manufacturing, and metallurgy.

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1850-1900: Second Industrial Revolution

Emphasis on chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel technologies Auto invented in 1889 in Germany

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Not all results are positive:

Luddites: The Luddites were a group of craftsmen and British textile workers who were
displaced by the innovations and mechanization of the textile industry. These workers organized about 1811 to protest these changes. The protests often involved destroying machinery which they viewed as threats to their livelihood.

Luddite is still a term used now as a synonym for people distrustful of technological advancements.

Social displacement and unrest

Changes in family (women worked for example) Changes in social structure and order

Child labor
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20th century milestones

Communication technologies Aviation 1903 with Wright Brothers Nuclear energy 1945 Computers last 60 years Mapping of the human genome(2003) Future ?? Nanotechnology

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New challenges

Globalization Population growth Finite resources Environmental concerns

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What lies ahead?

Paul Kennedy: The forces for change facing the world could be so far-reaching, complex, and interactive that they call for nothing less than the re-education of humankind.

From The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1989).

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Possible labels for the 21st Century

Transhuman age Post Human age V Human (synthetic human)

http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1
http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?mai n=memelist.html?m=6%23599
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