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@ -8,9 +8,7 @@ This is a brief summary of history of technology and computers.
The earliest known appearance of technology related to humans is the use of **stone tools** of hominids in Africa some two and a half million years ago. Learning to start and control **fire** was one of the most important advances of earliest humans; this probably happened hundreds of thousands to millions years ago, even before modern humans. Around 8000 BC the **Agricultural Revolution** happened: humans domesticated animals and plants and subsequently started to create cities. Primitive **writing** can be traced to about 7000 BC to China. **Wheel** was another extremely useful technology humans invented, it is not known exactly when or where it appeared, but it might have been some time after 5000 BC (in Ancient Egypt the Great Pyramid was built still without the knowledge of wheel). Around 4000 BC **history starts with first written records**. Humans learned to smelt and use metals approximately 3300 BC (**Bronze Age**) and 1200 BC (**Iron Age**). **[Abacus](abacus.md)**, one of the simplest devices aiding with computation, was invented roughly around 2500 BC. However people used primitive computation helping tools, such as bone ribs, probably almost from the time they started trading. Babylonians in around 2000 BC were already able to solve some forms of **[quadratic equations](quadratic_equation.md)**.
After 600 BC the Ancient Greek [philosophy](philosophy.md) starts to develop which would lead to strengthening of rational, [scientific](science.md) thinking and advancement of [logic](logic.md) and [mathematics](math.md). Around 300 BC Euklid wrote his famous *Elements*, a mathematical work that proves theorems from basic [axioms](axiom.md). Around 400 BC **[camera obscura](camera_obscura.md)** was already described in a written text from China where **[gears](gear.md)** are seems to have been invented soon after. 234 BC Archimedes described the famous [Archimedes screw](archimedes_screw.md) and created an **[algorithm](algorithm.md) for computing the number [pi](pi.md)**. In 2nd century BC the **Antikythera mechanism, the first known [analog](analog.md) computer** is made to predict movement of heavenly bodies. Romans are known to have been great builders, they built many roads and such structures as the Pantheon (126 AD) and aqueducts with the use of their own type of concrete and advanced understanding of physics.
After 600 BC the Ancient Greek [philosophy](philosophy.md) starts to develop which would lead to strengthening of rational, [scientific](science.md) thinking and advancement of [logic](logic.md) and [mathematics](math.md). Around 300 BC Euklid wrote his famous *Elements*, a mathematical work that proves theorems from basic [axioms](axiom.md). Around 400 BC **[camera obscura](camera_obscura.md)** was already described in a written text from China where **[gears](gear.md)** also seem to have been invented soon after. Ancient Greeks could communicate over great distances using **Phryctoria**, chains of fire towers placed on mountains that forwarded messages to one another using light. 234 BC Archimedes described the famous [Archimedes screw](archimedes_screw.md) and created an **[algorithm](algorithm.md) for computing the number [pi](pi.md)**. In 2nd century BC the **Antikythera mechanism, the first known [analog](analog.md) computer** is made to predict movement of heavenly bodies. Romans are known to have been great builders, they built many roads and such structures as the Pantheon (126 AD) and aqueducts with the use of their own type of concrete and advanced understanding of physics.
Around 50 AD Heron of Alexandria, an Egyptian mathematician, created a number of highly sophisticated inventions such as a **vending machine** that accepted coins and gave out holy water, and a cart that could be "programmed" with strings to drive on its own.
@ -19,6 +17,12 @@ In the 3rd century Chinese mathematician Liu Hui describes operations with **neg
Around 1450 a major technological leap known as the **Printing Revolution** occurred. Johannes Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, perfected the process of producing books in large quantities with the movable type press. This made books cheap to publish and buy and contributed to fast spread of information and better education.
During 1700s a major shift in civilization occurred, called the **[Industrial Revolution](industrial_revolution.md)**. It was a process of rapid change in the whole society due to new technological inventions that also led to great changes in how people worked and lived their everyday lives. It started in Great Britain but quickly spread over the whole world. The revolution spanned roughly 100 years. One of the main changes was the **transition from manual manufacturing to factory manufacturing** using machines and sources of energy such as coal. **[Steam engine](steam_engine.md) played a key role**. Work became more organized, society became industrionalized. This revolution became [criticized](ted_kaczynski.md) as it unfortunately opened the door for [capitalism](capitalism.md), made people less independent as everyone had to become a specialized cog in the society machine, at this time people started to measure time in minutes and lead very planned lives. People became enslaved by the system.
In 1792 Clause Chappe invented **[optical telegraph](optical_telegraph.md)**, also called *semaphore*. The system consisted of towers spaced up to by 32 km which forwarded textual messages by arranging big arms on top of the towers to signal specific letters. With this messages between Paris and Strasbourg, i.e. almost 500 km, could be transferred in under half an hour. The system was reserved for the government, however in 1834 it was **[hacked](hack.md)** by two bankers who bribed the tower operators to transmit information about stock market along with the main message (by setting specific positions of arms that otherwise didn't carry any meaning), so that they could get an advantage on the market.
By 1800 Alessandro Volta invented an **electric battery**. In 1827 André-Marie Ampère publishes a further work shedding light on [electromagnetism](electromagneticm.md). After this **[electric telegraph](telegraph.md)** would be worked on and improved by several people and eventually made to work in practice. In 1821 Michael Faraday invented the **[electromotor](electromotor.md)**. Georg Ohm and especially [James Maxwell](maxwell.md) would subsequently push the knowledge of electricity even further.
@ -49,4 +53,8 @@ On 25 August 1991 **[Linus Torvalds](linus_torvalds.md) announced [Linux](linux.
After this very recent history follows, it's hard to judge which recent events will be of historical significance much later. 1990s have seen a huge growth of computer power, video [games](game.md) such as [Doom](doom.md) led to development of [GPU](gpu.md)s and high quality computer graphics along with a wide adoption of computers by common people, which in turn helped the further growth of Internet. During the 90s we've also seen the rise of the [open source movement](open_source.md). Shortly after 2000 [Lawrence Lessig](lessig.md) founded [Creative Commons](creative_commons.md), an organization that came hand in hand with the [free culture](free_culture.md) movement inspired by the [free software movement](free_software.md). Cell phones became a commonly owned item and after about 2005 so called "[smart](smart.md) phones" and other "smart" devices replaced them as a universal communication device capable of connecting to the Internet. Before 2020 we've seen a huge advancement in [neural network](neural_network.md) [Artificial Intelligence](ai.md) which will likely be the topic of the future. [Quantum computers](quantum.md) are being highly researched with already existing primitive prototypes; this will also likely be very important in the following years. Besides AI there has appeared a great interest and development of [virtual reality](vr.md), [drones](drone.md), electromobiles, robotic Mars exploration and others. However the society and technology has generally seen a decadence after 2010, [capitalism](capitalism.md) has pushed technology to become hostile and highly [abusive to users](capitalist_software.md), extreme [bloat](bloat.md) of technology causes highly inefficient, extremely expensive and unreliable technology. In addition society is dealing with a lot of serious issues such as the [global warming](global_warming.md) and many people are foreseeing a [collapse of society](collapse.md).
Holy war is a perpetual passionate argument over usually two possible choices. This separates people into almost religious teams. In holy wars people tend to defend whichever side they stand on to the death and can get emotional when discussing the topic. Some examples of holy wars are (in brackets indicated the side taken by [LRS](lrs.md)):
- **[tabs](tab.md) vs spaces** (spaces)
- **[vim](vim.md) vs [emacs](emacs.md)** (vim)
- **[free software](free_software.md) vs [open source](open_source.md)** (free software)
- **[Chrome](chrome.md) vs [Firefox](firefox.md)**, and other browsers
- **[Java](java.md) vs [C++](cpp.md)**, and other [programming languages](programming_language.md) ([C](c.md))
- **[curly brackets on separate lines or not](programming_style.md)**, and other style choices
- **[KDE](kde.md) vs [GNOME](gnome.md)**
- **pronunciation of [gif](gif.md) as "gif" vs "jif"**
- **[Windows](windows.md) vs [Mac](mac.md)** (neither, this is a normie holy war)
- **[GNU](gnu.md)/Linux vs [Linux](linux.md)**
- **[copyleft](copyleft.md) vs [permissive](permissive.md)** (permissive, [public domain](public_domain.md))
- **[AMD](amd.md) vs [Intel](intel.md)**
- **[AMD](amd.md) vs [NVidia](nvidia.md)**
- **"Linux" [distros](distro.md)**
- **[window managers](wm.md)**
- **[Metric](metric_system.md) vs [Imperial](imperial_units.md) units** (metric)
- **Star Trek vs Star Wars**, and other franchise wars
- **Pepsi vs Cola**, and other brand wars
- **[Quake](quake.md) vs Unreal Tournament**, and similar gaming shit
Miloslav Ciz
2 years ago