A little list I felt like doing.
#9 - The Television
Who could perceive the countless hours man would waste staring into this glass box? Before the TV, newspapers and radio where dominant forms of media, but listening or reading did not have the same impact as seeing a moving picture on a screen. Although CRT monitors have been around since the turn of the century, TV as we know it today arose in the 1930's, where there were many 'experimental' broadcasts done on an irregular basis, usually short newscasts and recordings of live performances. Almost no one but universities and radio enthusiasts had TV's until the 1950's, were television stations arose and broadcasts began on a large scale. Now you could watch a show without going to a theatre, you could see the news as it was happening rather than just a still image. On the downside, you could say that TV has taken over our lives. There were many productive things we used to do, but now we just watch Jersey Shore instead.
#8 - Refrigeration
One of the major causes of starvation in the pre-industrialised world was the fact that food spoiled. Sure you can grow enough crops or raise enough cattle in one season to feed you for a year, but its not going to last you a whole year. Refrigeration changed that. Now you could slaughter a cow and have enough meat to last you months, rather than just letting the leftovers rot. Prior to the fridge, the only form of refrigeration was ice, which was expensive, needed to be shipped from the mountains or up north, and most inconveniently, melted. Refrigeration also allowed perishable foods to be shipped over long distances. This allowed us to distribute it to people more evenly and as a result the number of people dying of starvation dropped dramatically.
#7 - The Automobile
In the before times, it was rare for anyone to venture far from home. The main reason is because it would take you forever to get to many places. Even by horseback it wasn't fast and horses need feed and rest. With the car, you now had the freedom to travel hundreds of miles in record time. This new mode of transport allowed man to expand his horizons and develop new lands. It is debatable as to who "invented" the car, but it was Henry Ford in 1908 who introduced the
Model-T and the car and its benefits of transport became affordable to many.
#6 - Cellular Phone
No longer were we tethered by a cord. We could now contact anyone anywhere from anywhere, even in the middle of nowhere (unless you use AT&T). This is only one of the many things a cell phone can do. The technology for cell phones was around since the 1940's, but the consumer mobile phone was launched in the early 1980's in Japan. Phones were the size of bricks, but you could call home while walking down the street, and that was good enough for the public. 30 years later, it has become unusual not to have one. Also came the advent of texting and then, the iPhone Smartphone, where you could browse the web and navigate via GPS all in a device that fits in the palm of your hand.
#5 - The Aeroplane
People underestimate the miracle that flight really is. People tend to dread having to fly, with the waiting, the security, the crowds, the hassle. But think about it, 100 years ago it would take months to get from New York to California, and you would have to risk frostbite, illness and starvation. Today, you can go from New York to Los Angeles in less than 5 hours. These giant aluminum machines weighing several tons somehow magically and gracefully lift off and approach the speed of sound, while you rest comfortably inside. Traveling from Europe to India? It should take a few months to a year by boat, but now it only takes you half a day.
I love to fly, even with the hassles. It gives me a sense of adventure. But sadly I don't get to do it as often as I like due to its cost. But maybe I can get a job in the industry and get all the flight time I want.
#4 - Space Flight
For thousands of years, the phrase "skys the limit" was like a law of nature. Even after the invention of the airplane, the sky was the limit of human exploration. But on April 12, 1961 that law was broken when
Yuri Gagarin entered orbit. Humanity had become capable of exploring a world beyond what our senses could perceive.
#3 - Nuclear Energy
On July 16, 1945 the world changed forever. War as we knew it, had changed forever. Fighting with sticks and stones, swords, arrows, rifles and machine guns is one thing, but man now had the power to wipe out millions in a firestorm of radioactive vapor in a fraction of a second with the energy of a thousand suns. We had opened a pandora's box of energy and destructive power. However this discovery was not all bad. The ability to produce massive amounts of energy from splitting an atom had enormous potential for energy production. By harnessing the power of the atom, we could power an entire city off a few pounds of Uranium instead of thousands of tons of coal. Plus, this could be done without contributing to global warming.
#2 - The Transistor
Without this simple device, you wouldn't be reading this right now. Many things we take for granted were made possible by this tiny piece of circuitry. A transistor is nothing more than a switch, by combining thousands of these together, you get a rough processor. Processors that power our computers, cell phones, TV's and our entire modern economy. Prior to transistors, computers (if you can even call them that back then) used
vacuum tubes which were limited in how small they could become. It was for this reason that early computers took up entire rooms. But with the transistor, you could fit thousands on a chip the size of your finger nail. And even as we speak, transistors are getting smaller, allowing us to pack more power into smaller devices.
#1 - The Internet
Imagine, having unlimited access to every piece of information anyone would ever want to know. This is the internet. More than just a network of linked computers, a living, breathing entity of human knowledge. It has changed the way we communicate forever. In-fact it has gotten to the point where it has become part of the human race. No one person or small group of people can control it, it is controlled and maintained by mankind has a whole. Although many governments have tried control it (
China,
Iran, etc) the people have always found ways to use it for the good of everyone.
