Scientific Revolution throughout the History of Mankind - The Emergence of Technology - It makes difficult and complicated tasks easier - Developments in this field are not just products of one time thought process. - Brought about by gradual improvements to earlier works from different time periods. Key Historical Transitions - Paleolithic Period - Neolithic Period - Rise of Ancient Civilizations - Industrial Revolution - The Anthropocene The Human Origins (6 to 2 MYA) - Human revolution - remarkable sudden emergence of language, consciousness, culture in Homo sapiens sapiens - Stone Age - Early period of human history - First humans emerged from Africa, lived with other hominid species - Large Complex brains for making and using tools - - Paleolithic Age (2.5 MYA - 8000 BC) - Earliest part - Paleolithic Age or Old Stone Age - Nomadic group of people - Traveled in groups 20-30 people - Hunted buffalo, bison, wild goats, reindeer, depending on where they live - Survived by hunting (men) and gathering (women) - Gathered wild nuts, berries, fruits, grains, and green plants - Fished along rivers and coastal areas - Two thirds of energy of these people come from animal sources - Paleolithic diet (caveman diet) - heavy on protein and low in carbs - Women stayed close to camp, near body of water and looked after children, gathered berries and nuts - Everyone worked to find food (men on meat, women on fruits) - It is believed that equity existed between Paleolithic men and women - Man and woman worked together to find food for family, emerging first families. - First tools made by humans - Technology tools and methods to perform tasks were first used by Paleolithic people - Before this time, sticks and stones served as tools - Later, people made devices from hard stone called flint (mineral quartz) - Hitting flint with another hard stone would make the flint flake into pieces - These pieces had very sharp edges used for cutting - Flint technology was a major breakthrough - Over time, Paleolithic people made better tools. Spears, bows, and arrows made killing large animals easier. - Speas and fish hooks increased harvested fish. - Sharp-edged tools to cut up plants and dig roots - Scraping tools to clean animal hides used for shelter and clothing - End of Paleolithic age, smaller and sharper tools were made - Needles were created from animal bonesto make nets, baskets, and sew hides for clothing Paleolithic people learned to make own shelter constructed from animal skins, brush and wood Cold climate people made shelter from ice and snow Many lived in caves First use of fire by humans for warmth, cooked food, food preservation Generating Fire - Certain stone, iron pyrite, gave off sparks when struck against another rock Communication and arts - Development of spoken language - Spoken language constantly changed and grew - Transfer of knowledge - Cave paintings found around the world - Crushed yellow, black, and red rocks combined with animal fat to make paint - Twigs and fingertips asas brush on rock walls Neolithic Revolution (10,200BC - 4500 or 2000 BC) - First Agricultural Revolution - Wide scale transition from hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement - Neolithic was a period in development of human technology - Neolithic society - People lived in small tribes composed of families - Domestication of large animals resulted in a dramatic increase in social inequality - Headed by charismatic leader of tribal groups - Growth of agriculture made permanent houses possible - Mud brick houses and stilt houses settlemenets were also common - - - Clothing of Neolithic humans were made of animals skin - Reliance upon foods produced from cultivated lands - Encouraged the growth of settlements - Production of surplus croup yields Growth of Agriculture - Surpluses could be stored and traded - Agricultural life afforded securities - Sedentary farming populations grew faster than nomadic Neolithic Technology - Bracelets, axe heads, chisels, polishing tools - Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished - Skilled manufacturers of a range of other types of stone tools and ornaments, including projectile points, bead and statues - Polished stone axe allowed forest clearance in a large scale Rise of Ancient Civilizations - Emergence of science and technology on diverse usage - Transportation and navigation - Communication - Weapons and armors - Conservation of life - Engineering - Architecture Sumerian Civilization (4500 BC - 1900 BC) - Cruneiform - handwriting - Uruk City - Irrigation and dikes - Sailboats - Wheel - The plow Egyptian Civilization (3100 BC - 332 BC) - Paper or papyrus - Ink - Hieroglyphics - Cosmetics and wig - Water clock/clepsydra Chinese Civilization (1600 BC to 221 BC) - Silk - Tea production - Great wall of china - Gunpowder Greek Civilization (800 BC to 140 BC) - Alarm clock - Water mill Roman Civilization (753 BC to 476 AD) - Newspaper - Bound books or codex - Roman architecture - Roman numerals Middle “Dark” Ages (476 AD to 1400s) - Middle Ages - term for western Europe during the Postclassical Era (A.P. World History’s 3rd time period) - Began with the fall of the Roman Empire (476) - West - western Europe but later included America - Problems during Dark Ages - Lack of a central government - Widespread diseases and plagues - Long religious wars - Little to no access to education - Slow technological or cultural development - Printing press - Microscope - Telescope - War weapons The Renaissance (14th to 17th Century) - Bridge between dark ages and modern history that started as a cultural movement in Italy spreading towards rest of europe Modern History and the Industrial Revolution (1700s to 1900s) - Industrial Revolution period (1870-1900s) of time when the face of industry changed dramatically - Lasting impact on the economies of the world - Introduction of inventions that made life of people easier - Advancement of textile industry was key development in Industrial Revolution - Cotton gin increased in productivity of removing seed from cotton invented by Eli Whitney - Large gains in productivity in spinning and weaving textile - Factory system - Use of machines and assembly line approach - James Watt created first truly reliable steam engine in 1775 - Made locomotives and many textile machines possible - Coal mining - process of extracting coal from ground - Coal is valued for its enery content - Industrialization increased the demand - - - - - - - - - Substittion of coal for charcoal lowered fuel cost of iron production Charcoal powered steam engine enabled large increase in iron production Invention of machine tools - Screw cutting lathe, cylinder boring machine, milling machine Use of Chemistry - Large scale production of chemicals - Production of sulfuric acid pioneered by Englishman John Roebuck in 1746 - Production of fertilizers, detergents, dyes, explosives, drugs - Germany took world leadership in chemical industry Invention of Cement - Joseph Aspdin 1824 - patented chemical process for making Portland cement - Involves sintering a mixture of caly and limestone to about 1400 celsius then grinding it into fine powder, mixed with water, sand, and gravel to produce concrete Agricultural Machines - Joseph Foljambe’s Rotherham plough first commercially successful iron plough - Threshing machine by Andrew Meikle in 1784 - displaced hand threshing with flail The tin can - Patented by Peter Durand in 1810 - Food preservation and transportation - John Hall and Bryan Dorkin opened first commercial canning factory in England in 1813 Internal Combustion Engine - Jean Lenoir invented in 1858 - Heat engine where the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer like air in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit - Eventually used in mass transportation Electricity - The development of electricity as a source of power had been done by an international collection of scientists including Benjamin Franklin, Alessandro Volta, and Michael Faraday. Automobile - Henry Ford was by far one of the most imperative inventors of the Industrial Revolution. - It enabled people to go wherever they wanted whenever they wanted. - The automobile modernized the transportation industry entirely. Camera - - - - Beginning in 1814, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce the first person to ever take a photograph. Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone in 1876. - The telephone further improved communications and eventually led to the various communications devices used today. Phonograph - Thomas Edison created the phonograph in 1877. - Prior to the creation of the phonograph the only option for entertainment was for live musicians or actors to perform. - This allowed people to listen to music anywhere. Air travel - Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright created the first airplane in 1903. - Within a few decades planes had changed the face of personal and business travel and had dramatically altered warfare. The Anthropocene (Present) - Rise of the Human Empire - The era in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. - Scientists in the Soviet Union appear to have used the term “Anthropocene" as early as the 1960s to refer to the Quaternary, the most recent geological period. - The term was widely popularized in 2000 by atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen, who regards the influence of human behavior on Earth's atmosphere in recent centuries as so significant as to constitute a new geological time Issues that have identified the Anthropocene - Nuclear Weapons - Warfares have left their mark on geology. - When the first nuclear weapon was detonated on 16 July 1945 in New Mexico - Fossil Fuels - Burning fossil fuels marks the Anthropocene age. - Current rates of carbon emission are thought to be higher than at any time in the last 65 million years. - Carbon Emissions - Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Gas - - - Global Carbon Emissions from Fossil Fuels (1900-2014) Average global sea levels are higher than at any point in the past 115,000 years and are rising rapidly, which may also be detectable in future 6th Mass Extinction - The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species. - Mass extinctions sparked by massive global changes mark the Anthropocene period The Dark Side of Technology - Technology is a mostly positive endeavor, except for some troubling and unnerving possibilities Michio Kaku refers to as “wildcards.” - The unanticipated uses of technology and science threaten to turn happy futuristic dreams into nightmares. - - - - Plastic Use - Plastics, initially developed in the 1900s, have grown rapidly since the 1950s, and we now produce 500 million tons a year. - Sediments containing plastics will be a clear sign of the Anthropocene. Changed Geology - Every time we destroy a patch of rainforest, this changes the future of Earth’s geology. - We have transformed more than 50% of Earth’s land area for our own purposes. - Deforestation, farming, drilling, mining, landfills, dambuilding and coastal reclamation are all having widespread effects on sedimentary processes. - Disrupting how layers of rock are laid down, which will be detectable thousands of years in the future Use of Fertilizers - Our attempts to feed an increasing population will leave clear indicators, too. - Levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in soils have doubled in the last century because of our increased use of fertilizers. - We produce 23.5 million tons of phosphorus a year. - Human activity had the biggest impact on the nitrogen cycle for 2.5 billion years. Global Warming - Unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released as people burn fossil fuels. - Rate of temperature increase has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. “There are dangers, but only dangers if people don’t understand where technology is taking us.” - Michio Kaku
