This bounty idea comes courtesy of Sturmer, so we'll hand the reigns over to him:
This bounty aims to explore and celebrate the tech innovations that have reshaped our world. Participants are invited to submit entries on devices or processes that sparked a tech revolution, fundamentally altering how we live, work, or interact.
Entries will be judged based on how original they are, how well-researched and accurately presented the information is, and how clear the explanation is on how the chosen tech changed the world.
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This bounty closed to entries at 11am on July 16, 2024 but you can still reply, react, and join the conversation below! If you’d like to enter other bounties which are still open, click here.
It's probably an obvious answer but the internet (sure you need a device to connect to it with but that's for another time!!)
It's something that from a personal point of view I think about what I've been able to do and achieve that wouldn't have been possible without it and for that reason I have to choose this.
Whether it was spending my early internet days watching flash cartoons (Foamy the Squirrel and Salad Fingers I'm looking at you!), discovering new music courtesy of Last.FM, Launchcast etc. or fumbling my way through my degree at university with late night Google searches to back up my dissertation thesis you fast forward 20+ years to a changed landscape impacted by a pandemic and I've seen so many people flourish being able to work from home, starting their own online businesses, studying to improve their career prospects and not to mention content creation absolutely coming into it's own.
It's very easy to look back at the internet when it was in it's infancy now and think about how "limited" it was, but it's something that sparked innovation and really, it's come a long way in a relatively short period of time. What started as a way for universities and scientists to share research and information turned into something for the masses, allowing all of us to sample cultures and things we'd never have thought possible. Sure, it has it's pitfalls but really that's a byproduct of people's ingenuity which further underlines the point of what is possible for people to create and achieve.
In a time where people claim social media and technology have left us more disconnected (and I do agree to an extent but that's more about the result of the user than the tech) it's enabled us to communicate better than ever. During the pandemic, you think about video call doctor appointments, zoom calls with family, working from home allowing people to continue to earn during one of the most uncertain times of our generation and the influx of people taking to Twitch (like me!) in a bid to make friends and forge connections while isolating.
It's become a great leveller, anyone with access to the internet has access to a wealth of information, they can improve their skills, knowledge and education from their own home or a public library. They have a platform to showcase their talents whatever that may be. Sure, we have to find a way to get our voices heard in the crowd but prior to the internet many of us wouldn't have even had the chance to get our voice heard. It's made entrepreneurs of people who without the internet may well have been doomed to a life of service in dead end jobs, it's allowed people who couldn't afford education ways to gain the education they need without the crippling costs and it's only going to further allow people to succeed in this way.
Now my first mobile phone was a 3210 - It was a brick, it was heavy but small, and it used to break a lot in terms of needing to be turned on and off again (have you tried turning it on and off again) lol. But it was a great phone and of course, it had the epic legendary game Snake on it. Which I am proud to say I fully managed to max the crap out of that.
Now as technology moved on, we moved into the "Blackberry" phase, this was essentially the first real, decent smartphone. It was one of the first phones to use the Internet properly, boasting email, internet web page access and a selection pad that essentially was a mini mouse pad, also having its own full keyboard as well, it was a phone that when I got it, I felt like I was essentially carrying around my home PC.
Then we moved on to the iPhone generation, the original iPhones were not great, they were essentially a small upgrade to the Blackberry, But it was also one of the first phones to fully boast a touchscreen interface, this, of course, marked it a "man apart" as they called it at the time. But with a much larger memory, it was able to hold more photos, more music, faster loading and more access to the world of the internet.
Now, we move on to the latest generation of phones, my own personal model, the iPhone 15, which is a powerhouse of memory, access and camera power. The iPhone is now the leading brand in smartphones. My 15, can take pictures to rival £1k cameras and does it much faster and stores it much easier, easier to upload and access. The sheer memory the phone possesses is nothing short of astonishing, I am now, essentially carrying around a high-powered gaming machine with an incredible camera attached to it.
With the introduction of mobile phones, the world's ability to communicate, much like the internet has become instant, we no longer have to walk to people's houses to chat, we can send pictures to each other instantly, we can chat instantly, we can video call each other and essentially speak face to face with no effort.
It has enabled us to pass information back and forth, instant CCTV in our hands, catch the most beautiful things to the worst on camera and share it with the world, it has enabled people to hold law enforcement to account.
But the question remains, although this device has changed the world of communication, at what price has this come? At what cost to our make-up of humanity, has this device come? How much has the technology of the mobile phone, cost us, our basic need to be around others and communicate face to face?
Norman Borlaug - The Man that has saved the most lives
A little different from the beaten path of tech gurus such as Gates, Zuckerburg, Musk, and Jobs. Borlaug is a agriculturist who's work has prevented famine and starvation across the world due to his creation of semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties.
This plant was made through genetically plant breeding specific species for unique traits such as shorter wheat with thicker stems so it could support higher yields, higher variety in genome to prevent disease wiping out all of the pure crop phenotypes, and moving the crop to different climates allowing for a double harvest.
HIs work has allowed food production in harsher climates such as Mexico, Pakistan, and India thus allowing for a greater yield and production of food.
Without his work - food shortages and world hunger would be far behind what it is today.
Using the modern agricultural technology and techniques has helped pioneer the green revolution and food production. Without his work - the world would look very different today
Nothing had a bigger impact of course than the modern transistor. Going from transistors the size of a lightbulb that you could only put a handful of in a device, to transistors so small you can't even see them has revolutionised how much processing power any device can have. I don't think I need to explain why that's a big deal, giving way to microprocessors and computers that are 1000x more powerful and 1000x smaller in a matter of just years when this leap happened. We've all seen those pictures of computers that took up entire rooms, all while having 1/1000000 of the performance of even a modern smartwatch. This gave way to the current tech industry we all know and love.
Well since the other obvious choices have been taken I'm still gonna go with an obvious one, but one which I think we take for granted yet, many of us simply wouldn't be able to function without it. Hell, society as we know it wouldn't be able to function without it.
Of course I'm talking about TikTok...just kidding, I'm talking about electricity of course.
Okay so, technically it wasn't invented so maybe I'm cheating just a little bit but we can point a finger at the person who first realized electricity could be harnessed. That's probably Benjamin Franklin who was nutty enough to fly a kite during a thunderstorm with a key attached to it until well, the inevitable happened. All the way back in 1752. From there, in the 19th century the first electric battery was invented followed of course by Edison's light bulb and the first power distribution system.
Whilst the internet and mobile phones are revolutionary and world changing in their own right, no single technology has ever had such a profound impact on the world as we know it as the introduction of electricity.
Without electricity, we'd have no batteries, no capacitors (flux capacitors too), no computers, no internet and no mobile phones. The discovery of and ability to harness electricity is the very pillar of civilization and technology as we know it today. We couldn't function as a society without it, we probably wouldn't exist without it but would we be better or worse off? That's up for debate.
What might life be like without it? I dread to think, but I think one show that's always stuck with me that I think does a great job of exploring what might happen if it all suddenly went out one day in the near future is Revolution. It does something quite unique I think.
So yep, electricity has undoubtedly shaped the world as we know it right now.
Who remembers the world of cameras with actual film in it? The excitement of handing in a film at the shop to be processed and then find out all your holiday photos were ruined by light exposure or someone's thumb covering half the shot? You had limited amount of shots to take so you had to think twice what you were spending it on. Then the whole family would sit together and flip through the photo album and talk about the memories.
Then digital photography was born, first we had cameras which could hold as many photos as your memory card allowed, you could check instantly on the device if a shot was good, delete and retake if needed. Then came the mobile phones with cameras, which everyone could easily take anywhere, and with it came the social media apps. We are taking pictures of everything, our food, blurry pictures in a museum, noisy recordings of a concerts... honestly, how many of the pictures you take have you actually looked back at? Are they ordered into albums on your computer or maybe printed out? Are they still on your phone and you didn't even delete the blurry ones?
While the technology itself is amazing, I think it drastically changed how we live our everyday life. Probably if I could time-travel, I would want to go back before the time of digital photography and enjoy a concert without the bright screens popping up everywhere.
How would the world be now if we paid more attention to our surroundings, lived in the moment instead of the urge to snap a picture of literally everything?
Maybe what I can mention about one of the technologies that can change human life is about "nails".
Why nail !?
Because in the past, when nails had not been discovered, humans used Vines, clay, or whatever to build houses or make something.
Just think about it, when nails had not been discovered, when we built a house without using them we would not be able to join wood or anything else together permanently during the house building process.
I feel like the obvious answer is the internet. All the things that came with it. As the technology of it grew within the last few years. Evolving and reshaping the world as we know it. Making it easier to prefer some of our basic tasks. Yet also makes it easier for criminals to hack into our information.
I work in an operating room, where the schedules of the surgeries are now displayed on monitors. Looking up information and finding the equipment that is down in the central processing area. Doctors using the internet to show surgeries on the video to other parts of the world for learning and teaching others.
We’ve come a long way since the beginning. I do believe we will keep moving in a way that will forever change the way we look at the world.
I think printers changed the world of literacy and information by a big chunk since it helps us share large amounts of information very quickly and in very huge numbers.
before the printing press exists, people used to draw and write mostly by hand. and to transcribe it, they mostly uses wax and parchment. The press was made by Johann Gutenberg in the 1300-1400. Before, books were a limited resource, since they are mostly accessible to the wealthy or to universities. Literacy rates were also low, due to the limited resources.
With the printing press being invented, knowledge could be more easily accessible. Information in the form of newspaper was formed. Public opinions reached the people more easily.
Alexander Graham Bell changed the world with the telephone, we 100% take it for granted right now but if you sit down and really think about it, we can speak to anyone in the entire world if they have a telephone and we have their phone number. It's only really become common in the past 100 years
I honestly wonder how the hell did people date before telephones? Imagine you met someone out and about and wanted to meet them for a date? What the hell did they do, they must have written letters planning dates but even then theres a few days before a message gets delivered. People must have been stood up by others cancelling dates but not being able to get the message across!
The telephone has allowed humans to connect with humans across the entire world, build relationships, communicate information which is vital, fostered relationships, marriages! Literally changed the course of history. You don't need to travel to speak to someone face to face when you can talk to anyone instantly across the world, its mind boggling in my opinion
Mine may be obvious due to my presence here but I would have to say, the iPhone 100%. I completed a bounty on this not to long ago where I had to do diary excerpts from Steve Jobs POV and I really had so much fun doing it.
The iPhone changed the mobile phone landscape. You no longer needed multiple devices to do multiple things. With this one device you can; listen to music, take videos, capture images, stream YouTube, surf the web, send text messages and also receive and dial to have phone calls all whilst being touch screen. It was innovative to say the least, and it really set Apple ahead of its time but focusing their developments on this one device but it was absolutely revolutionary.
It set a new standard to what could be achieved in the world of telephony and soon really set up its competitors to try and have a go.
Without the iPhone, I don’t think we would be here at this point with folding smartphones ect.
When I think of technology that has fundamentally altered how we live, work and interact, the one most of us tend not to think of consciously but one that I find fascinating every time I use it is the lift!
Created originally as manually operated elevators, the hydraulic lift has become so widely used in our daily lives that they now just feel part of the structure of society naturally in many areas, from offices to stations and so many other public places.
The best part is how safe they are and how well they work despite the occasional trope of being stuck in the lift happening from time to time, as they have made millions of trips up and down buildings for years across the world. All that and still horror movies make lifts feel so terrifying to be stuck in!
Making it so much easier to get from one level to another isn't even where this incredible invention stops, as now there are more developments being worked on for lift technology to become electromagnetically powered without the need for counter weights, cables or pulleys!
There's even the idea of multidirectional lifts that travel both vertically and horizontally becoming a thing in the future, which will probably blow the mind of any Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fans out there too!
I think Virtual Reality was a huge advancement that helped in so many ways that people don’t even think about. Yes, it immerses us in to our favourite games so much more than before. But it’s also used by the army, in medical and other hands on careers for training purposes, allowing people to get experience of situations that aren’t the easiest to simulate in real life. This is just the beginning and it’s going to keep developing and helping in so many other ways that haven’t been though of yet
My submission is the Microprocessor and whilst there is some debate on who invented it there's no doubt on the impact it has had on the world. The first commercial microprocessor was designed by Federico Faggin in 1971 and since then they have been added to thousands of every day household items that traditionally never had a computer including things like household appliances, vehicles,toys, light switches, smoke alarms and so many more things. The Microprocessor allowed so many technology's to evolve, it has made a huge difference to the world for being something that is so small and it's something that we don't always think about being there.
Awesome entries everyone! You listed everything I could think of, but I want to highlight one more piece of technology from medicine that has saved millions, if not billions, of lives over the last 96 years (1928-2024), and that is Penicillin and Antibiotics.
Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. He made this discovery at St. Mary's Hospital in London, United Kingdom. I think all of you have taken this type of medicine at least once in your life to fight or prevent dangerous diseases. Doctors use them not to combat actual diseases, but to prevent infiltration during surgery and other medical manipulations. In some cases they are mandatory.
Personally, for me, it was an undeniable lifesaver. Twenty years ago, I fell ill with a deadly disease, and without antibiotics, my chances of survival were nearly zero.
Here is a link to a movie, The Discovery of Penicillin (1964), which covers the history of that invention.
When we talk about tech innovations that have reshaped our world, I think mammography takes #1 place in the field of women’s health. This technology has revolutionizd the early detection and treatment of breast cancer. Mammography, a specialized medical imaging technique using X-rays. This early detection is crucial, as it significantly increases the chances of successful treatment and survival.
The origins of mammography can be traced back to the advancements in X-ray technology, which were pioneered by scientists Marie Curie. While she did not invent mammography, her discovery of radioactivity laid the founation for X-ray imaging, and as a result - of mammographic technology.
Thanks to mammography, millions of women have been able to detet breast cancer at its earliest stages. This technology has empowered women to take proactive steps in their health care, making early diagnosis and timely treatment possible.
