The technology revolution

From Future

The technology revolution is a period of time in the history of humans, in which technology went from being a thing that was mostly static, to being a thing that was actively pursued and developed at a fast pace, leading to a vast increase in technological capability.

The 3 countries that have been most responsible for the technology revolution thus far have been The United States, The United Kingdom, and Germany. Notably, the 2 most common countries of origin of europoid United States citizens are The United Kingdom and Germany... and The United Kingdom and Germany also have a large anglo-saxon racial element in common. Apparently anglo-saxons like technology. Thomas Edison is an example of an anglo-saxon that likes technology.

There is probably no exact date that marks the beginning of the technology revolution, but it generally began in the 1700s, and is continuing on into the current time (2008 and beyond). One can hardly predict when the technology revolution will end, or if we will even manage to get to the end without killing ourselves off first, or what human civilization will be like if and when we reach the end.

There were 3 major discoveries and inventions that were largely responsible for putting the technology revolution into full swing. They were:

• The invention of the practical steam engine by James Watt in 1769, which derived from a much less practical steam engine (1705 by Newcomen). This led to the steam locomotive (1802 by Trevithick), the steam boat (1807 by Fulton), and in turn the petroleum engine (1885 by Benz and Daimler), the automobile (1885 by Benz), the motorcycle (1885 by Daimler), and the airplane (1903 by the Wright brothers).
• The discovery that current electricity can instantly flow a great distance through metal, by William Watson in 1745, which derived from earlier investigations into static electricity and sparks. This was the foundation of all electrical devices, beginning with the telegraph in 1837 by Samuel Morse.
• The discovery of chemical elements, and especially the periodic table of elements which was discovered in 1869 by Dimitri Mendeleyev. This was the foundation of all chemistry.

The most recent events in the technology revolution have been:

• the computer revolution
• the internet revolution
• the cell phone revolution
• the DVD revolution (video media that is compatible with both televisions and computers)
• the super cell phone revolution (that is, cell phones that can take pictures, connect to the internet, and store files)
• the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting, scheduled for february 2009 in the United States, and subsequent years for other first-world countries

As of the current time, there are some technological revolutions that are beginning, and can be extrapolated into the future. They are:

• genetic extrapolation: As knowledge of what the various genes do grows, people will come to know what the genetic cause of all human trait variations are. ...The police will gain the power to extrapolate all of a person's traits' and thus their identity, by the DNA in a small cell sample. Also, telomere length can be used to determine a person's age. Society will thus be pushed closer toward a 1984-esque dystopia. ...The capabilities of embryo screening will increase, giving parents much greater control over their offspring's genes, including those which determine the offspring's morphological features. This will advance some aspects of evolution while impairing other aspects of evolution.

• military robotization: As residents of first-world countries become more spoiled with the rising standard of living, they will become unwilling to man the front lines of war, and will create robots to fill in for them. ...Enemies of the western countries, unwilling to risk their lives to fight against robots, will develop their own military robots, thus leading to a military robotics arms race.

• A.I. that is superior to humans: As artificial intelligence continues to gain superiority over humans in an increasing number of tasks (it is already superior at chess), it will replace military generals and CEOs. The humans will plug the data into the computer, the computer will tell the human the best strategy, and the humans will implement it. Humans will thus become dependent upon computers far more so than ever before, and ultimately dependent upon the companies that manufacture the computers and have a copyright monopoly on the software. Such superior A.I., in the hands of the Putin cabal of Russia, the theocratic regime of Iran, and other generally evil entities, will allow them to implement a superior strategy that might bring them to world domination, something that a reckless human like Hitler could never do.

All of the above extrapolated events can take place well before the year 2100. The human species may or may not survive such events, and may or may not be worth surviving when they're through.

One thing that is uncertain about the future, is if and when the scientific community, and/or the general public, will learn and accept the nature of consciousness and a person's fundamental character. Although such things have already been quietly discovered by a scientist, they are little-known. No doubt such information would be highly controversial if it became more widespread.