The last 100 years

[Night Train]

Here is an interesting question to ponder:
What do you consider to be some of the greatest inventions, advancements, or discoveries of the last 100 years? (Please supply a date if you know it!)
My grandmother says that one answer to this question is the airplane. I think man's first flight was in December of 1903.

[chm2023]

Air-conditioning!!

Automobile, transistor, computer, polio vaccine. With the exception of the last, which is sometime in the 50's, can't put a date to any as it's hard to pinpoint the exact moment in time.

[Robert Martellaro]

What do you consider to be some of the greatest inventions, advancements, or discoveries of the last 100 years?1. Electricity production/distribution

2. Flush toilet. Invented before 1900 but not widely used until 20th century. Where my parents thought #3 belonged.

3. Rock and Roll.

[RGC_man]

Communications. Telephone, television, radio, computers.

[chip anderson]

Sho' nuff wasn't "The Great Society."
Wasn't Afirmative Action.
Wasn't Bussing.
Wasn't Political Corrrectness.

[hcjilson]

The advances in medicine which have extended our life expectancy from an average age of 19 years prehistorically to 75 today.

[Spexvet]

Communications. Telephone, television, radio, computers.

I agree. Instant communication. That, or the indoor plumbing Chip got at his house last week.;)

[chip anderson]

You want to know what contributed the most to our life expectancy? It wasn't medcine. It was improvements in sewage removal and water purification combined with more sanitary habits in food preparation.

Suprise, suprise.

Chip

[For-Life]

Plastic lenses, Anti-Glare, Transitions, Progressives :)

[hotsauce]

No one's said penicillin yet?

[chip anderson]

The Bomb, or atomic energy should be at least worth a mention.
Viagra worth a smilie.
The birth control pill worth a lot.
It wasn't legalized abortion.

[Night Train]

-Traveling to another astronomical body and back, December, 1968. This was Apollo 8's trip to the moon. They orbited but didn't land, so some may wish to observe Apollo 11's visit as more significant, but I prefer this one. It was the first time in human history that humans had left our planet and traveled to another world. And made it back home. I suspect that centuries from now our descendants will regard this as the most significant event of the 20th century.



--Creation and detonation of the first atomic bomb, July, 1945. It was the first effective use of nuclear power for either constructive or destructive purposes.



--Exploration of the Marianas Trench, 1962. This was the culminating achievement in a century of hyperactive exploration of the Earth's surface. Previous achievements included visits to the South and North Poles in the early part of the century and the climbing of the highest point on Earth--Mt. Everest--perhaps in 1924 by Mallory and Irvine but certainly in 1953 by Hilary and Norgay. The exploration of the Marianas, which is the lowest point on Earth, meant that there was no place on the Earth's surface that was beyond human access for the first time in history.



--Invention of the microchip. (Year?) Some would argue instead for the creation of the PC, but I see that as merely the most significant consequence, among many, of the invention of the microchip. The time will come, I believe, when the word "computer" will lose much of its meaning because we'll be unlikely to possess singular devices called computers; instead, most everything we touch will have some sort of microchip technology imbedded in it. Everything will be a "computer" of some sort.



--Invention of the wireless (1915?). This was followed by the radio, television, and all of the wireless devices we own today. It was the first time in history that communication was independent of physical contact (human to human or some kind of wiring).



--The articulation of quantum mechanics (1920s-1930s). I was tempted to put Einstein’s explanation of general relativity (1915) here, but I suspect that some of his assumptions (such as time as a fourth dimension) are more likely to be overturned than the basics of quantum mechanics as explained by Heisenberg and others. We’re still struggling to understand and visualize reality at the micro level and I suspect that there are major discoveries yet to be experienced here.



Other Notes:



--Yes, the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane on December 17, 1903, which technically puts that achievement outside of the past 100 years.



--I found it interesting that every form of mass transportation in use today is merely an improvement on (but not a departure from) forms available 100 years ago. Planes, trains, and automobiles are all faster and more efficient and sleeker now, but it’s essentially the same technology.



--Since the exploration of the Marianas and the visit to the Moon in the 1960s, we have done very little in terms of human exploration. The only available options are down (toward the Earth’s core) or out (to other astronomical bodies). We’ve sent a couple of spaceships to Mars and around other planets, but humans have remained quite stationery.



--Micro and macro are where the action is (and will be) in the 21st century, but not the stuff in between. We’ll explore particles and strings on the one hand and galaxies and clusters on the other.



Where have things gone wrong?



--Destruction. Nearly every positive invention or discovery has been used for destructive purposes (or likely will be at some point). Nuclear energy is the prime example.



--“The abolition of man.” This is C.S. Lewis’ phrase. We have made humans into technology—instruments to be utilized for a purpose, not immortal creatures who are made in the image of God. We have thus killed millions and millions of us.

[chm2023]

Sho' nuff wasn't "The Great Society."
Wasn't Afirmative Action.
Wasn't Bussing.
Wasn't Political Corrrectness.

Certainly wasn't the emergence of angry white men as victims.;)

[Cindy K]

Hey, we're optical people here and I'm surprised no-one's added:

-- Cataract extraction and iols!

[Night Train]

OK....so let me ask this....
What has "gone the way of the dodo bird" over the last 100 years that we should all be wishing we never lost or we deeply need to get back? One answer may be "community" as it is now possible to exist without any other human interaction if one chooses.

[chm2023]

Communication--face to face contact. Live TV drama, e/g Playhouse 90. Statesmanship. Neighborhoods. Neighborhood stores. Oh any the biggest: gas station attendents who pump your gas.

[For-Life]

OK....so let me ask this....
What has "gone the way of the dodo bird" over the last 100 years that we should all be wishing we never lost or we deeply need to get back? One answer may be "community" as it is now possible to exist without any other human interaction if one chooses.

penmenship (and I am a testament to that), University being about higher learning and not about getting a job, young apprenticeships, typewriters, slide rules, and a shoe store that actually has someone working there over the age of 18.

[RGC_man]

OK....so let me ask this....
What has "gone the way of the dodo bird" over the last 100 years that we should all be wishing we never lost or we deeply need to get back? One answer may be "community" as it is now possible to exist without any other human interaction if one chooses.When I first moved here 18 years ago I gave my elderly neighbour a key for something, and she was soon letting herself in during the day without permission. Now I don't even know my younger neighbour's name. I know the people I want and need to know, and it suits me just fine.

[Spexvet]

Kids being able to play by themselves without needing adult supervision/protecetion.

[chm2023]

3 TV stations plus PBS all of which went off the air after midnight! Being able to go to a pro ballgame with your kids without taking out a loan.

[OpticLabRat]

OK....so let me ask this....
What has "gone the way of the dodo bird" over the last 100 years that we should all be wishing we never lost or we deeply need to get back? One answer may be "community" as it is now possible to exist without any other human interaction if one chooses.

A government controlled by the people. :(

[DragonLensmanWV]

For both categories.....

Wal-Mart!!

[hcjilson]

3 TV stations plus PBS all of which went off the air after midnight! Being able to go to a pro ballgame with your kids without taking out a loan.
Is anyone out there old enough to remember watching test patterns?? For you younger members, try googling it!

[Jacqui]

I remember test patterns, seems every station had the same one(s). I also remember John Cameron Swazy(sp) reporting from the Korean War, and Edward R. Murrow.

Television has gone completely to H---

[hcjilson]

Do you remember RADIO!! Before TV....Lone Ranger, Jack Armstrong the all American Boy. Mr Keane tracer of lost persons....etc etc.

[Jacqui]

Do you remember RADIO!! Before TV....Lone Ranger, Jack Armstrong the all American Boy. Mr Keane tracer of lost persons....etc etc.


Oh Yes :D :D Where I grew up, Northern British Columbia, there was no TV. The radio was always on either to CBC or to a shortwave station. The only times that I got to see TV before about 1962 was when we took a trip to Vancouver or Edmonton.