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1300
Mechanical Clock
As a society, I believe it would be incredibly hard for us to function correctly if there were no clocks in the world. Clocks have been around for millennia. They tell us when to sleep, wake up, and go to work or school. Clocks control most aspects of our life whether we realize it or not. I decided to specify mechanical clocks as that is when they were made to be more accurate and began to be much more important in day-to-day life. No longer did one have the excuse of not knowing the time. -
1436
Printing Press
The printing press was invented in the mid 1430s. Johannes Gutenberg is credited for its invention. The printing press allowed for ideas and information to be written down and shared in mass quantity for the first time in human history. It is when knowledge was able to be replicated and shared freely. Prior to this invention, everything had to be written by hand, which meant that copies of books were scarce. The press solved this. -
Electricity
Benjamin Franklin is given credit for being the one who discovered electricity. This discovery changed humanity and helped light up the world and bring us into the industrial revolution. Without this key discovery, almost all of humanity's advancements in the last two centuries would be impossible. This includes the lightbulb, the microphone, the radio and many other inventions who run on the discovery made in 1752. -
Personal Computers
Personal Computers are everywhere nowadays. It is an invention that over the course of decades, took hold of the human race. Although it is somewhat debated, the Altair 8800 is what some consider to be the first ever personal computer. It was commercially successful and is the great great grandfather to the much faster, smarter, and smaller personal computers we have today. I and many others use PCs on a day-to-day basis and cant fully imagine life without it. -
The Internet (The World Wide Web)
Despite only being around for just a few decades, the internet is integrated into everything we do nowadays. It is one of humanity's greatest inventions, allowing humans to communicate with one another constantly, wherever, whenever. If you look at its impact over the period of time it has been around, not many other inventions come close to the large impact it had on society despite being only a few decades old. As someone who was born in a post-internet world, I can imagine life without it. -
Resources
Clock:
- https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1506.htm Electricity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_electrical_and_electronic_engineering
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/ Personal Computer:
https://www.britannica.com/technology/personal-computer/ Internet:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/World-Wide-Web Printing Press:
https://www.history.com/news/printing-press-renaissance