Brief History of Technology: Around the World in 80 Minutes or LessHumanities 110 PowerPoint 2

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

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.comHumanity and History in Perspective /*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

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.*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

First stage of human history: Nomadic Society

Nomads:humans who lived by hunting and gatheringImportant innovations included:Fire:1.5 M years agoStone tools:100,000 years ago*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

Second stage:Shift from nomadic to agrarian society (about 8,000 BC) Cause:Technology allowed man to produce a reliable, ready source of food.

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

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.

Maslows Hierarchy: explaining why and how technologies developed*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

Results of shift to agrarian societyCitiesbeginning of civilizationThe word city comes from the root word for civilization.Better foodAnimals domesticatedCrops grownWriting 3,500 BC

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

Important early users/inventors of technology8,000 BC-1500 ADGreece, Rome (agriculture, irrigation, buildings, etc.) China (gunpowder and paper)

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

Transformation of Major World Societies, 1500-1800Major cause: printing press first used in Germany about 1450 AD by GutenbergTremendous influences of the press, especially on Renaissance Reformation: Martin Luther 1516Other resultsDecreased power of the church as people read for themselvesIncreased power of science

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

British Agricultural Revolution 1500-1850 in EnglandMassive increase in agricultural productivityCauses: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*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

British Agricultural Revolution ResultsResults:More food, cheaperLarge population growthAlso influenced by better sanitation and medicineLed to more demand for goods and servicesFarmers displacedIndustrial RevolutionExplosive growth of western cities*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

Two great Industrial Revolutions centered in England

1750-1850:First Industrial Revolution1850-1900:Second Industrial Revolution*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

1750-1850:First Industrial RevolutionEconomy 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.*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

1850-1900: Second Industrial Revolution

Emphasis on chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel technologiesAuto invented in 1889 in Germany*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

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 unrestChanges in family (women worked for example)Changes in social structure and orderChild labor*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

20th century milestones

Communication technologiesAviation 1903 with Wright BrothersNuclear energy 1945Computers last 60 years Mapping of the human genome(2003)Future ?? Nanotechnology*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

New challengesGlobalizationPopulation growthFinite resourcesEnvironmental concerns*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

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).

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

Possible labels for the 21st CenturyTranshuman agePost Human ageV Human (synthetic human)http://www.kurzweilai.net/index.html?flash=1

http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=memelist.html?m=6%23599

*HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

HUM 110 PowerPoint 2

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