The Four Industrial Revolutions

The Four Industrial Revolutions

1st: Age of Mechanization

Steam engines, Waterpower, Iron production

The first industrial revolution was the eve of mechanization. Steam engines, waterpower, and iron production took off and changed life for humanity. (Appr.1765-1830)

1807 – the first steamboat was built and traveled 150 miles between NYC and Albany, NY in 32 hours (about 3 days faster than previous ships)

1833 (in the UK), female factory workers outnumbered male workers at 57% of the workforce (most of them under the age of 20)

By 1843, about 30,000 women had moved from family farms to Lowell, MA to work in the textile mills, 80-90% of the mill workers were female

2nd: Electric Revolution

Electricity, Gas, and Oil

The second industrial revolution was the electric revolution. Using electricity, gas, and oil as power, along with the key inventions of the car and plane, meant a new degree of luxury for the world. (Appr. 1870-1925)

May 1st, 1844 - the first telegraph is sent from Annapolis, Maryland to Washington D.C.

1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first American woman to graduate from medical school

1908 – the first Model T Ford automobile presented to the public; the first car affordable to the average American and the beginning of assembly line production

3rd: Digitization

Nuclear energy, Electronics, and the Internet

The third industrial revolution was the beginning of digital technology. Nuclear energy, electronics (including computers), and robots were introduced. This period became the shift leading into the fourth industrial revolution, today’s industrial revolution. (Appr. 1969-early 2000s)

1962 – Katherine Johnson, a black woman working at NASA on trajectory analysis, is chosen to verify the calculations for John Glenn, the first American man to orbit space

1936-1938 – the first programmable computer, Z1, was created by Konrad Zuse in his parents’ living room in Germany

1960 – the first geothermal power plants were built in the US, still the largest to this day

4th: Metaverse

AI, Virtual and Augmented Reality, and Genetic Engineering

The fourth industrial revolution defines our present and future as humans. The new frontiers of this industrial revolution include Artificial Intelligence (AI), metaverses and other forms of virtual reality, 3D printing, and robotics. (Appr. 2016-Today)

1997 – World chess champion Gary Kasparov loses a match against Deep Blue, an IBM chess playing computer program

1997 – Cynthia Breazeal started building Kismet, a robot who can emulate human facial expressions

2019 – Monthly-connected VR headsets on Steam surpassed 1 million

The questions which arise from moving forward into the uncharted and unknowable territory of the fourth industrial revolution (also known as 4IR or Industry 4.0) surround how it will affect human purpose and everyday life.

As we experience the fourth industrial revolution, will humanity reach the other side with more satisfaction in our quality of life or less?

How will navigating these new versions of reality alter or remove human choice?

Will new technologies make the Technology Human Balance easier or more difficult to understand and attain?

Sources:

virtualspeech.com | eh.net | salesforce.com | nasa.gov | historyhit.com | weforum.org | billofrightsinstitute.org | uml.edu | ied.eu