Slashdot Mirror
Technologies That Shaped the Last Century?
ChrisGB writes "I was watching a TV discussion in the UK this morning about people's views of what technologies have shaped the way the 20th century developed. Suggestions from the panel included atomic theory, the microprocessor and genetics. Most interesting were the reasons they made their choices. What are other people's choices for the most important technologies of the 1900s and your reasons for choosing them?" I think that the large push in communications technology in the last century were critical in getting us things we've come to depend on today...from the TV to Slashdot. What technologies developed in the last century do you think are important?
In terms of life as a western female, the biggest technological invention of the 20th century was the lightweight electric motor.
At the turn of the century, running a family household required two full-time adults. One to earn the money, the other to perform household tasks. As a child of the sixties, I can remember life without a refridgerator (shopping for fresh poduce daily), using primitive washing machines (wash day was Friday - all day. One adult in attendance at all times) and with no microwave or convenience foods (cooking times measured in hours, from fresh ingredients). we now have a state where one adult plus several devices is required to run a household. This has ontributed to female emancipation, allowing women to follow careers more easily. Since one compelling reason for staying together as a couple has been removed, it has also contributed to divorce, and the break-up of the 'nuclear family' and the increase of single parent families.
The liberating technologies for men have come much later in the century. In the early part of the century, conscription and advancing technology in war meant that men were massacred in millions. The first breakthrough (and some will hate me for this) was the atom bomb. This was a technology that made armies of massed numbers, and the evil , state enslavement of males called conscription, an irrelevance. Smart weapons at the end of the twentieth century mean that conscription is dead, and an army of tens can pack a devastating punch, This will be an influence in the early part of the 21st century. Metal (and silicon) will be better than meat.
Stephen Hawking has written another book. It's about time as well.
In all the analogies to the magic and the mysteries and the amazing and crazy possibilities brought by the net, I'm struck by the most obvious parallel in recent history that's conspicuously but silently been removed from the public consciousness.
Plastics.
C'mon, people. The ability to generate arbitrarily shaped substanced with (seemingly) arbitrary properties changed the shape of *everything*, from medicine to packaging to war.
The net's exciting, but imagine touching something that literally just couldn't have existed.
I find it extraordinarily interesting that nobody compares the historical excitement over plastic products has never been linked to the present Net crazes. Last I checked, of course, the Dow just had the last of the great plastic giants summarily removed in favor of some tech company(Was it Intel?). And you wonder why the Dow is raging...
That might just have something to do with it. Someone who was actually around when plastics were really huge would be really nice to reply right about now.
As for some unlikely but interesting choices...lets go beyond mass communications for a second and look at Instapolling. The effects of immediate, semi(or pseudo) unfiltered feedback has *got* to be powerful. Suddenly "the public" no longer thought whatever major newspapers reported. "The public" now thought what major newspapers asked...and what the party asked...and what the other party asked...and ya know what? Somewhere in that mass was an actual democratically representative opinion.
Representation was invented because the public was considered too unweildy to come to quick decisions. Pollsters have changed that, and it's very likely that much of their influence is utterly invisible--and would make great reading.
Something to think about.
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
Despite the huge technological leaps and bounds of the past seven millennia, say pollsters, the majority of humankind still use the wheel. Other ten thousand-year-old technologies such as fire and metalworking also show signs of continuing to be popular well into the supposedly technologically enlightened twenty-first century.
"I don't understand at all," said Jim Groznatz, a 20-year-old Silicon Valley multimillionaire. "I mean, we've got the internet, we've got the dotcoms, and people are still using the wheel?" Groznatz suggested that the widespread use of fire may represent "retro chic, perhaps even marketable retro chic."
In Washington, several congressional committees are now studying the disturbing technological backwardness evidenced by the continuing popularity of the wheel. "We need to let newer technologies progress to the front," said Vice President Al Gore. "The wheel is yesterday's technology; we need to look ahead to tomorrow's technology. I'm thinking fiber optics, probably."
In homes and families across America and the world, however, the wheel continues to occupy a central place. "I just put the TV table on castors last night," commented Wisconsen homeowner Jorg Ericcson. "I mean I guess the wheel is thousands of years old and all, but it still seems to work."
Mr. Ericcson may be in for a change, though. Microsoft recently announced the acquisition of Goodyear -- well known manufacturer of wheel accessories -- to produce a "new, user-friendly, proprietary wheel." The new "MS Wheels!" will feature multiple colors, a patented backing-up mechanism, and will be fully integrated into the popular Windows operating system. "We were concerned about 'Wheel piracy' initially," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, "but we re-watched Road Warrior last night and we're working on some sort of technical solution to control our intellectual property."
In the mean time, AOL and Time Warner have united to produce a new "Fire 2000" and Apple is reportedly working on a secret "eBronze" and "Opposable iThumbs" in its research labs. It's going to be an exciting century!
The key invention was the three-phase AC system by Tesla. Edison promoted the alternative DC system, with huge banks of lead-acid batteries at substations. Urgh. Continental electricity grids are only possible because of transformers to step up the voltage for long distance transmission, and transformers in turn only work with AC. If you use AC then the a three phase configuration is the most efficient.
Paul.
You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
The contraceptive pill. Which has certainly changed the face of society. Of course us nerds might be expected to overlook that one.
Also on the social side, state funded education for all, and state funded healthcare for all are pretty big, at least on this side of the pond.
Of the previous suggestions though, I certainly have to go with plastics and antibiotics.