Ask Slashdot: What Was The Greatest Era Of Innovation? (nytimes.com)

speedplane writes: The New York Times is running a story on innovation over the past 150 years. [The story starts at the end of the American Civil War with the newly completed transcontinental railway in the 1870s. Then it highlights the profoundly different lifestyle of the 1920s, the end of 'The Great War' and the beginning of the Great Depression. By the 1970s, many of the transportation and communication changes from the 20s became fundamental parts of daily life. The story ends in 2016, an era in which human life has changed the most in the last 46 years.]

We're in the golden age of innovation, an era in which digital technology is transforming the underpinnings of human existence. Or so a techno-optimist might argue. We're in a depressing era in which innovation has slowed and living standards are barely rising. That's what some skeptical economists believe. The truth is, this isn't a debate that can be settled objectively.

What do slashdotters think is the greatest era of innovation?

Comments

that's an easy one!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, oh, I know this one!

3500 BC was the greatest era of invention.

Why 3500 BC, you ask?

The (approximate, of course) invention of beer.

Go ahead, tell me of a greater one. Can't, can ya?

Re:1870s to 1970s

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Trivia: I will never forget the moon landing, mum let me have the day off school to watch it at home, I was so enthralled by the broadcast that I accidently sat on a plate of spaghetti.

One small sitting for the boy, one giant mess for the mom.