why has humanity accelerated its development in the last 100 years?

Question

And the trend has continued with new technologies all the time.The time period is like a microsecond compared to the time humans first established civilisation.Why has knowledge exploded now?

Answer 1

Population. More Brains To Think And One Discovery Leads To Another Discovery And So On.........A Study Shows That People Are Getting Smarter Instead Of Stupider Mainly Because Of Education At Schools!

Answer 2

The scientific method is the primary cause, then the explosion in agricultural output.

The scientific method rationalised progress. Before it, progress was haphazard attempts at creating or improving tools, based on immediate needs to do so and the know-how accumulated by artesans. There was nearly no 'big picture' view, attempting to join different engineering problems under the same umbrella with a common solution.

After the spread of the method, progress was systematised. Big frameworks were set into place, like the theory of thermodynamics or electricity, with a 'propose hypotheses, see if they fit the facts, otherwise they're wrong, change them' approach that simply did not exist befrore. Engineers could then apply that very-probably-correct theory directly to make machines, knowing in advance what to expect, and cutting hundreds of years of trial-and-error refinment in the process.

That, in turn, led to study of the growth of plants and the discovery of efficient fertilisers, the creation of mechanical harvesters, and other inventions that led to a huge food supply. With less hands tied simply to subsistence, wealth, therefore education, therefore the number of available good brains rocketed, fueling even more advances in a snowball effect.

There are many other things, obviously, like capitalism, warmongering, fast transport and long-distance communication, which all sped-up progress even more, but getting into all the secondary causes will necessitate a few books :)

Answer 3

It depends what you mean by development! It is arguable whether we are as moral as 100 years ago, we are wrecking the environment and not least the last 100 years have seen some of the most appalling wars in history.

In terms of material wealth and technolgogical advancement, humanity has advanced because it has adopted social structures that have enabled discoveries and their industrial application. And has been indicated to you by other respondents, such advancement has accelerated at an every increasing rate up until now - although it appears we are beginning to hit the limits of resources such as oil.

Answer 4

Why has no one mentioned the wars?
The needs of the First and Second great wars forced the development of many new technologies..flight, Computers (an English invention, booyah), the Tank, Nuclear energy, global communication, improvements in medicine..the wars forced us into a technological race, we are dealing with the consequences, America beat the CCCP in a similar way in the cold war with a Technological war.
Nearly all of todays technologies can be traced back to their war-time creation

Answer 5

I think it has a lot to do with communication. Until we developed writing, you could only talk to the person next to you, or rely on runners to take the information to others. Once we started writing, you could ship more knowledge than a messenger could memorize. Then we got the daily paper, telegraph and telephone, and you could send information very quickly. Now, with the computer, you can find information on anything you want at the touch of a button. The more knowledge we are able to share, and the faster we can share it, the more technology grows.

Answer 6

Perhaps humanity has eschewed alot of taboo and religious morality in the name of progress. I am no bible thumper, but I do think that one of the checks on progress used to be the morality we took part and parcel with religion that now many people only bring out when it serves their purpose.

Human focus has shifted from BEING someone of substance to LOOKING like someone of substance (ie famous in the eyes of media) therefore people are happy to buy anything that puts them in that position.

Another point is the evolution of the public corporation has changed many of the laws that used to reign in the power of media and business in general. For a great read about the negative aspects of modern finance and corporate law, check out a book called "the Corporation" by Joel Bakan.

Answer 7

Not only population, but communication. We have progressed fom Pony Express in the mid 19th century to telegraph, telephone, now internet. More minds but also a greater exchange of ideas between those minds to improve our collective processing time as a species.

Answer 8

We can thank Ben Franklin for this because it is due to the discovery of electricity that our technological development has accelarated. Electricity is crucial to every modern innovation in the last 100 years.

Answer 9

This is the first time we have used our own technology to further advance ourselves. We have computers and machines doing a lot of the mental activities that we once had to do manually. Also the root answer you are looking for---ELECTRICITY----

Answer 10

In humanity we have done nothing. we are just making and selling booms and after that we ar sending our troops to find out those weapons which we sell to them years ago.

same senario with all countries.

In humanity we are on back gear, just loosing our moral values day by day. No ethics , so respect for humanity.
sometime feel shame to be human