# How technology remade the world From fire and the wheel to electricity, the engine, the computer, and AI: the inventions that changed what humans could do. *This story part of: Science and technology* *The pillars of modern power part of this story* *Babylonian astronomy and the birth of the zodiac parallel this story* *Ptolemy: the map of the heavens and the earth parallel this story* *The Renaissance: the rebirth of antiquity parallel this story* *The history of mathematics parallel this story* *The history of science parallel this story* *DARPA, Silicon Valley, and the security state part of this story* *Science and technology part of this story* ## c. 10000 BCE — Agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution People began farming crops like wheat and barley and herding animals instead of only foraging. Farming led to permanent settlements, food surpluses, population growth and the rise of cities. ## c. 4500 BCE — The ard plough Farmers used a simple scratch plough pulled by animals to break soil for planting. The plough raised crop yields and let fewer people feed more. ## c. 3500 BCE — The wheel The wheel and axle appeared first for pottery and then for wheeled carts. It transformed transport, trade and machinery. ## c. 3300 BCE — Bronze metallurgy Smiths learned to alloy copper with tin to make bronze, a harder metal than either alone. Bronze tools and weapons defined an age and drove long distance trade in metals. ## c. 3200 BCE — Writing and cuneiform Sumerians pressed wedge shaped marks into clay tablets to record trade, laws and stories. Writing let knowledge outlast memory and is the foundation of recorded history. ## c. 3100 BCE — The sail Boats fitted with sails used wind power to travel rivers and seas. Sailing opened long distance trade and exploration by water. ## c. 1800 BCE — The alphabet Proto Sinaitic script reduced writing to a small set of signs for sounds rather than hundreds of symbols. This simple alphabet made literacy far easier to learn. ## c. 1200 BCE — Iron metallurgy Smiths mastered smelting and working iron, a common and strong metal. Iron tools and weapons spread widely because iron ore was far more plentiful than tin and copper. ## c. 1050 BCE — The Phoenician alphabet Phoenician traders spread a 22 letter consonant alphabet across the Mediterranean. It became the parent of the Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic scripts. ## c. 600 BCE — First coinage The kingdom of Lydia struck the first standardized coins from electrum, a natural gold and silver alloy. Coined money made trade, taxes and wages easier to measure. ## c. 312 BCE — The Roman aqueduct Rome built long gravity fed channels to carry fresh water into cities, starting with the Aqua Appia. Aqueducts supplied baths, fountains and homes and supported large urban populations. ## c. 250 BCE — Archimedes screw A rotating screw inside a cylinder lifted water uphill with a simple turn of a handle. It was used to drain mines and irrigate fields and is still used today. ## c. 200 BCE — Roman concrete Romans mixed volcanic ash, lime and water to make a durable concrete that could set underwater. It made possible domes, harbors and structures like the Pantheon that still stand. ## c. 200 BCE — The vertical waterwheel Waterwheels captured the energy of flowing water to grind grain and drive machinery. They were among the first machines to replace human and animal muscle with natural power. ## c. 50 BCE — Glassblowing Craftsmen learned to inflate molten glass with a blowpipe to shape vessels quickly. Glassblowing made glass affordable and common for the first time. ## c. 105 — Paper The official Cai Lun is credited with refining papermaking from pulped fibers into cheap writing sheets. Paper spread slowly westward and became the main surface for writing and printing. ## c. 600 — The stirrup Paired foot supports let a rider stay firmly seated and use weapons from horseback. The stirrup reshaped cavalry warfare across Asia and Europe. ## c. 700 — The windmill Vertical sail mills used wind to grind grain and pump water. Windmills gave regions without fast rivers a reliable source of mechanical power. ## c. 850 — Gunpowder Chinese alchemists mixed saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur into an explosive powder. Gunpowder led to firearms and cannon and changed warfare worldwide. ## c. 1000 — The horse collar in Europe The padded collar, developed earlier in China, let horses pull heavy loads without choking. It made horses efficient for ploughing and hauling and boosted farm output. ## c. 1040 — Movable type printing Bi Sheng created reusable characters of fired clay to print pages. It was the first movable type, centuries before the same idea reshaped Europe. ## c. 1088 — The magnetic compass for navigation Sailors used a magnetized needle to find direction even without sight of the stars or shore. The compass made open sea navigation far more reliable and enabled long voyages. ## c. 1286 — Eyeglasses Unknown craftsmen near Pisa mounted two convex lenses in a frame to correct failing eyesight. Eyeglasses extended the working lives of scholars and artisans. ## c. 1300 — The mechanical clock European tower clocks using a verge escapement measured time with gears and a swinging bar instead of water. Mechanical clocks brought regular hours to towns and reshaped how people organized work and life. ## c. 1440 — Gutenberg's printing press Johannes Gutenberg develops printing with movable metal type around 1440. Cheap, fast reproduction of texts spreads literacy and new ideas, fueling the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. ## c. 1600 — The compound microscope Dutch lens makers built early microscopes that magnified tiny objects. The microscope revealed cells and microbes and opened a hidden world to science. ## 1608 — The telescope Hans Lippershey filed for a patent on a device that made distant objects look nearer. Turned to the sky by Galileo, the telescope transformed astronomy and our view of the cosmos. > "This new system began with the first Puritan church at Salem, organized in 1629 by the so-called “Salem Procedure.”" > — Dumbing Us Down, p. 106-113 ## 1656 — The pendulum clock Christiaan Huygens used a swinging pendulum to regulate a clock, making timekeeping far more accurate. Precise clocks aided science, navigation and daily coordination. ## 1701 — The seed drill Jethro Tull built a machine that planted seeds in neat rows at set depth. It cut waste and raised yields and was an early step toward mechanized farming. ## 1712 — Newcomen's atmospheric steam engine Thomas Newcomen built the first practical steam engine, used to pump water out of mines. It was the first machine to do useful work from steam and heat. ## c. 1764 — The spinning jenny James Hargreaves invented a machine that let one worker spin many threads at once. It was a key trigger of the mechanized textile industry. ## 1769 — Watt's improved steam engine James Watt added a separate condenser that made the steam engine far more efficient and fuel saving. His engines powered factories, mines and later transport and drove the Industrial Revolution. ## 1771 — Arkwright's factory system Richard Arkwright gathered water powered spinning machines and workers under one roof at Cromford Mill. This factory model of centralized, powered, wage labor production spread across industry. ## 1793 — The cotton gin Eli Whitney's machine quickly separated cotton fibers from their seeds. It made short staple cotton hugely profitable and deepened reliance on enslaved labor in the American South. ## 1796 — Vaccination Edward Jenner showed that inoculation with cowpox protected people against deadly smallpox. Vaccination founded immunology and has since saved hundreds of millions of lives. ## 1800 — The electric battery Alessandro Volta stacked discs of different metals to make the voltaic pile, the first steady source of electric current. The battery made controlled electricity possible and launched the study of electrochemistry. ## 1825 — The public railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened as the first public line to use steam locomotives, followed in 1830 by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Railways moved people and goods faster and cheaper than ever and reshaped cities and economies. ## 1839 — Photography Louis Daguerre announced the daguerreotype, a practical way to fix images from light onto a plate, building on earlier work by Niepce. Photography gave people a new way to record reality and later fed film, science and journalism. ## 24 May 1844 — The electric telegraph Samuel Morse sent the message What hath God wrought over a line from Washington to Baltimore. The telegraph let information travel almost instantly over long distances for the first time. ## 16 October 1846 — Surgical anaesthesia William Morton publicly demonstrated ether that let a patient sleep painlessly through surgery. Anaesthesia removed the agony of operations and made complex surgery possible. ## 1856 — The Bessemer process for steel Henry Bessemer devised a way to mass produce cheap steel by blowing air through molten iron. Abundant steel built railways, bridges, ships and skyscrapers. ## 1861 — Germ theory of disease Louis Pasteur showed that microbes cause disease and spoilage rather than arising on their own. Germ theory led to sterilization, safe food and modern public health. ## 1867 — Dynamite Alfred Nobel stabilized nitroglycerin into dynamite, a safer and controllable explosive. It transformed mining, tunneling and construction and also warfare. ## 1876 — The telephone Alexander Graham Bell patented a device that carried the human voice over an electric wire. The telephone let people talk across distances and grew into a worldwide network. > "It took thirty years to beat down a fierce oppo- sition, but by the 1880s it had come to pass — “they” had the children." > — Dumbing Us Down, p. 106-113 ## 1879 — The practical incandescent light bulb Thomas Edison developed a long lasting incandescent bulb suitable for everyday use. Electric light replaced flame and extended work and social life past sundown. ## 1882 — Central electric power station Edison's Pearl Street Station began supplying electricity to customers over a distribution grid. Central power stations made electricity a public utility and powered homes, industry and cities. ## 1885 — The automobile and internal combustion engine Karl Benz built the Patent Motorwagen, the first practical car driven by an internal combustion engine. The car reshaped transport, cities and daily life in the century that followed. ## 1895 — Radio Guglielmo Marconi built the first practical system for sending messages by radio waves without wires, followed by a transatlantic signal in 1901. Radio enabled wireless communication and later broadcasting to millions. ## 8 November 1895 — X-rays Wilhelm Roentgen discovered rays that could pass through the body and image bones on a plate. X-rays gave medicine its first way to see inside a living patient. ## 17 December 1903 — Powered flight The Wright brothers made the first sustained, controlled flight of a powered heavier than air machine. Aviation shrank the world and grew into global air travel and freight. ## 1908 — The Ford Model T Henry Ford launched the Model T, a sturdy car simple enough to be affordable for ordinary families. It put millions on the road and made the automobile a mass product. ## 1913 — The moving assembly line Ford introduced a moving assembly line that brought the work to the worker and slashed the time to build a car. Mass production lowered prices and became the model for modern manufacturing. ## 1927 — Television Philo Farnsworth demonstrated a fully electronic television system that transmitted a moving image. Television became the dominant mass medium of the twentieth century. ## 1928 — Penicillin and antibiotics Alexander Fleming noticed that a mold killed bacteria, leading to penicillin, the first true antibiotic. Antibiotics made once fatal infections curable and transformed medicine. > "The most impressive statistic in French's study was a correlation coefficient of .82, which expressed the relationship between the composite rating of teaching ability and the measures of group attention during recitation periods." > — Life in Classrooms ## 1937 — The jet engine Frank Whittle ran the first bench test of a working turbojet engine. Jet propulsion led to fast, high flying aircraft and made mass air travel practical. ## 1938 — Nuclear fission Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann split the uranium atom, releasing energy, and Lise Meitner explained the result. Fission led to nuclear power and to nuclear weapons. ## 1945 — The ENIAC electronic computer ENIAC was among the first general purpose electronic digital computers, using thousands of vacuum tubes. It showed that machines could compute at electronic speed and pointed the way to the computer age. ## December 1947 — The transistor Researchers at Bell Labs built the first working transistor, a tiny solid state switch and amplifier. Transistors replaced bulky vacuum tubes and are the basic building block of all modern electronics. > "This technique, to which Bloom gave the term stimulated recall, consisted of making sound recordings of a class session and playing them back to the students within a period of two days from the actual event." > — Life in Classrooms ## 1953 — The structure of DNA James Watson and Francis Crick, using data from Rosalind Franklin, described the double helix structure of DNA. It revealed how genes store and copy information and founded molecular biology. ## 1958 — The integrated circuit Jack Kilby built the first integrated circuit, placing multiple components on a single chip. The microchip made electronics small, cheap and powerful and enabled the digital world. ## 1960 — The contraceptive pill Regulators approved the first oral contraceptive pill for birth control. Reliable contraception gave women greater control over childbearing and reshaped families and society. ## 1960 — The laser Theodore Maiman built the first working laser, producing a narrow, intense beam of coherent light. Lasers now drive fiber optics, surgery, manufacturing, scanners and data storage. > "The point of view expounded here had its beginning in 1962 while I was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences." > — Life in Classrooms ## 1962 — The communications satellite Telstar relayed the first live television and telephone signals across the Atlantic by satellite. Satellites now carry global communications, broadcasting and navigation. ## 29 October 1969 — ARPANET The first message was sent between computers on ARPANET, a packet switched network funded by the US military. ARPANET was the direct ancestor of the internet. ## 1971 — The microprocessor Intel released the 4004, the first commercial microprocessor, putting a computer's processing on a single chip. Cheap microprocessors made personal computers, phones and countless devices possible. > "doing school work for the rewards it will bring in the form of good grades and teacher approval" > — Life in Classrooms > "Therefore, as perceived by their administrative superiors, these teachers comprise the top 5 or 10 percent of the instructional staff. The sample was drawn chiefly from suburban communities surrounding Chicago." > — Life in Classrooms > "In a sense he is working for the school and against it at the same time." > — Life in Classrooms > "The result, it is claimed, will be the transformation of teaching from an art to a science." > — Life in Classrooms ## 1973 — Recombinant DNA and genetic engineering Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer combined DNA from different organisms to make the first genetically engineered life. This launched biotechnology, from engineered insulin to modern gene medicine. ## 3 April 1973 — The handheld mobile phone Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first public call from a handheld cellular phone, the DynaTAC prototype. The first consumer model reached the market in 1983 and mobile phones went on to reach most of humanity. ## 1975 — The personal computer The Altair 8800 kit sparked the personal computer movement, followed by ready to use machines like the Apple II in 1977. Personal computers put computing power on ordinary desks and in homes. ## March 1989 — The World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web, a system of linked pages accessed over the internet, and opened it to the public in 1991. The web turned the internet into an everyday tool for billions. ## 1991 — The internet becomes the infrastructure of the global order The spread of the internet and later the smartphone and social media wires the world into a single real-time network. It becomes the core infrastructure of globalization, commerce, and communication, and, through surveillance and platform power, an instrument of both state and corporate control. Documented as the backbone of the integrated world order; the specific claim that it is a designed tool of a secret one-world government is a separate conspiracy framing. ## 1995 — GPS reaches full operation The US Global Positioning System reached full operational capability, giving precise location and time anywhere on Earth. GPS now guides navigation, logistics, farming and timing for networks and finance. ## 1998 — Web search Google launched a search engine that ranked pages by their links, making the growing web usefully searchable. Fast, relevant search became the main way people find information online. ## 2003 — The Human Genome Project An international effort completed a reference sequence of the human genome. Reading our genetic code opened new fields in medicine, biology and personalized health. ## 2007 — The smartphone Apple released the iPhone, combining a phone, a computer and an internet device with a touch screen. Smartphones put the internet in billions of pockets and reshaped daily life, work and media. ## January 2009 — Bitcoin and the blockchain An anonymous developer launched Bitcoin, a digital currency secured by a public ledger called a blockchain. It introduced a way to record transactions without a central authority. ## 2012 — Deep learning breakthrough with AlexNet A deep neural network called AlexNet won the ImageNet contest by a wide margin, proving that deep learning on GPUs worked far better than expected. It set off the modern boom in artificial intelligence. ## June 2012 — CRISPR gene editing Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier showed that the CRISPR Cas9 system could be programmed to cut DNA at chosen sites. It made precise gene editing cheap and widely available and transformed biology and medicine. ## June 2017 — The transformer neural network Google researchers published Attention Is All You Need, introducing the transformer architecture based on attention. Transformers became the foundation of modern large language models and generative AI. ## December 2020 — mRNA COVID-19 vaccines The first mRNA vaccines were authorized to fight COVID-19, delivering genetic instructions that teach cells to trigger immunity. They were developed at record speed and proved a flexible new platform for vaccines. ## 30 November 2022 — ChatGPT and large language models OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot built on a large language model, and it reached millions of users within days. It brought generative AI into everyday use and set off a wave of adoption and investment.