Monday, June 18, 2007

The most important moments in science

From Guardian Technology, today.

A sample:

"At this conference on the future and converged technology in Oxford, we were asked to think about five moments in history that have really driven technological convergence.

Here is what I came up with another member of the group:
1) Agriculture. I'm in the process of reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, an amazing book that covers a huge sweep of history. With agriculture and surplus food production, people are freed to pursue specialisation that includes everything from political systems to professional armies.
2) Printing Press. It's simple but oh so critical with the sudden mass dissemination of knowledge.
3) Healthcare as science with the development of the disease model and the development of antibiotics all the way to the discovery of DNA.
4) World War II It helped rally resources to develop or refine technologies including radar, computing, rocket science, the jet engine and atomic energy/weapons.
5) Internet I guess it seems too obvious. But it has enabled so much else. "


I personally liked a list a guy called countingcats wrote on the comments section.

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