Jan 09
26
Pivotal Technologies that have changed our World.
This morning my colleague Chris Gilbey
and I had one of these heated philosophical discussions on the topic of who lobbied whom first for the
digital rights distribution of music.
I claimed that it was the music industry that clubbed Apple
into submission and Chris stated that it was Jobs who had the foresight and
vision to approach the music industry and give them a zero alternative offer.
After we concluded our phone call – I went a-hunting and
discovered in fact from articles about iTunes commercial practices and Jobs own
discussion of the DRM clauses in the contract that it was most likely Stephen Jobs
that forced the industry into allowing him to distribute DRM protected music.
The interesting part of this conclusion is that there are
pivotal points in humanities development that are often overlooked by
Historians.
So I thought to set the record straight, I would pinpoint a
few leading innovations in Technology that have permanently altered the way
live our lives – and presumably the Wayback machine will record this blog list for
posterity to be added to as needed.
So you think you know – lets see how many you get right…..
The inventor of the wheel – unknown inventor from Mesopotamia
in the 5th millennium BC
The Steam Engine or Aeolipile Heron of Alexandria
(Ήρων ο Αλεξανδρεύς) (c. 10–70 AD)
Flying Machine, Leonardo DaVinci – 1467
Round Planet, leading to accurate mapping and space travel,
Galileo – 1592
Electricity, William Gilbert 1600 in distinguishing the
difference between static and magnetic
Car, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot – three wheeled converted
carriage 1769
Record Player - Édouard-LéonScott de Martinville 1857.
Personal Computer, November
3, 1962, John W. Mauchly – Prediction – every child.
Cellphones 1964 – Star-Trek – Personal Communicators = Motorola
Business Classic
Internet – Louis Pouzin, 1972, datagram evolving into TCPIP via
Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn
Ipod, Kane Kramer 1979
iTunes, the commencement of the Digital Copyright
Distribution model, Steven Jobs/Apple 2001
Youtube, Chad
Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, 2005, redefining entertainment content.
The clues as to what the next big thing is in the science
fiction programs you are now watching and the scifi books that you have most
probably already read.
My hat off award to:
Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Frank
Walker Arthur C. Clarke and new authors like Michael
Crichton who still find ways to make the currently impossible technologies
seem so close to being realized.
There are many more inventions that have made our lives less
labour intensive, but I consider that the above list is exhaustive in giving
credit to the original and mainly unsung heroes of our modern lifestyles.
Feel free to leave a comment if you feel that I have left out any notable entrants.