Homo Techno #1

Where we started

[TL;DR We’re just really smart apes]

Our Timeline

~13.8 billion years ago: The Big Bang creates the Universe

~4.6 billion years ago: The Sun and planets form

~3.7 billion years ago: Life begins on Earth

Archaea (prokaryotic microbes) first found in hydrothermal vents

Stromatolites likely made by microbes moving upward to avoid being smothered by sediment

~2.7 billion years ago: Eukaryotes evolve

~600 million years ago: Multicellular life evolves

~480 million years ago: First vertebrates evolve

~210 million years ago: First mammals evolve

~55 million years ago: First primates evolve

~7 million years ago: First hominins evolve

~3 million years ago: First humans evolve

~176 thousand years ago: Evidence of material culture/built constructions

Roman coin, the Aureus

Megalithic temples of Malta

~12 thousand years ago: Evidence of homo genus interbreeding (end of neanderthals)

~11 thousand years ago: Evidence of agriculture/storable grains

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics of bovine farming practices

~10 thousand years ago: Age of Richat structure

Evidence of complex civilizations as early as ~8,000 BCE

~5 thousand years ago: Evidence of numerals/full writing

Cippus Perusinus, Etruscan writing near Perugia, Italy. Precursor to the Latin alphabet

~4 thousand years ago: Hard evidence of complex civilizations

Ancient Assryian city (Northern Mesopotamia)

586 years ago: Printing press invented

479 years ago: Christian empire accepts solar system

242 years ago: Industrial revolutions begin (economies of scale take effect)

163 years ago: Charles Darwin proposes evolution

146 years ago: Telegraphy invented

77 years ago: Digital revolutions begin/WW2 ends/UN established

The Enigma machine. Significant contributor: Alan Turing

Imperial Japan surrenders to the Allied Forces

The UN Security Council is established. Representatives from the Big Five and other countries

54 years ago: Global population growth rate peaks at 2.1%

49 years ago: Cellular phones invented

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000x to the modern iPhone

48 years ago: Home computers invented

The “1977 Trinity”: Commodore PET 2001-8, Apple II, TRS-80 Model 1

38 years ago: Cellular data (1G) invented

Cellular data tower pictured above

33 years ago: World wide web invented

A map of the global undersea internet cables

30 years ago: Dial-up internet invented

25 years ago: WiFi invented

22 years ago: Broadband invented

20 years ago: Blackberry invented

15 years ago: iPhone invented (smartphones)

14 years ago: Bitcoin invented (blockchain)

7 years ago: UN sustainable development goals/Paris agreement established

1 year ago: El Salvador accepts Bitcoin as legal tender

Summary

Exponential pace of evolution: biological to technological

• Cultural & political roadblocks

• Stagnant rate of productivity

  • Compounding effect of retained knowledge/progress

The inflection point: communications technology (printing press, internet)

• The human superpower: complex communication & collaboration

Further Readings (with a grain of salt)

1. The history of world empires

2. The impact of the printing press, internet & blockchain

   Internet and Blockchain Will Kill Nation-States

3. Stoned ape theory (weed & psychedelics)

4. “Homo Techno”