When thinking about the history of technology, it is important to look at the big picture. It’s easy to look at major, yet relatively recent developments, like computers, cell phones, even vaccines and penicillin. These are all important, and paramount to the world in which we now live, but they are hardly the great transition pieces. The wheel was arguably the first great piece of technology developed by humans and understanding the fundamentals of basic architecture helped early humans move from caves into solid structures of their own design. So how does a modern observer pick between the great inventions and discoveries of the past? Which of all of these helped to define progress and direct humanity toward its modern incarnation?
Recognizing how far the human race has come requires looking intently at the past. The earliest epochs of civilization are named, and thus defined, by the great discoveries of the time. The Stone Age saw people learning how to whittle down rocks into sharp points, which made hunting large game a more successful venture. As mankind learned to bend the elements to fit the needs of people, the Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age and eventually morphs into the Steel Age. Each of these time periods represents significant developments in mankind’s understanding and manipulation of the world around him. And this is the key to technological advancement.
Nowadays, technological changes come so rapidly that most historians look at the last century in terms of decades. Mention the 20′s, the 50′s, or the 80′s, and you immediately have an idea of both the cultural “feel” of the time and the developments that occurred in each ten year span. And as man begins to be able to manipulate the world on a subatomic scale, expect the distinctions in time to become ever smaller.