In the past hundred years we have made more technological and scientific progress than in the past many centuries. Consider the following advances:
- Our knowledge of the universe has increased tremendously
- Advances in medicine save more lives than ever before
- Technology has improved the quality of life many fold
- Crop yields per hectare have multiplied
What brought about these advances in the past 100 years, did man suddenly evolve into a more intelligent being? That is very unlikely so we can rule out biological possibilities and conclude that the human brain hasn't changed in the past hundred years.
But then why has there been a surge in the advances being made by mankind? In the 1800's the gap between advances made from one generation to the next was very small.
Today the gap in terms of capability, between generations, is huge. This generation has made major technological and scientific advances compared to earlier ones, and the next is likely to achieve even greater things.
Biologically the human brain hasn't changed, but the way we think seems to have changed and that has resulted in the humans of today being more intelligent than those before.
I am going to argue that humans have become more conformist and that has resulted in our making these advances:
- Food: Close to 90% of the world population subsists on three cereals - wheat, rice and maize. The top twenty crops account for about 80% of the cultivated area today. A hundred years back they accounted for less than 30%. What this means is that diets today across the world are getting more and more similar. [This means that today farmers have an easier job, food processing companies have an easier job, transporters have an easier job, all resulting in higher productivity and better food security.]
- Education: Today every child in every country undergoes twelve years of schooling and the curriculum is very similar. Basically a majority of humans by age 20 have gathered roughly similar knowledge in science, geography, history, mathematics, etc. Education was never this standardized in earlier times. Different people learnt different skills based on social, economic and local community needs. [Modern day schooling ensures that knowledge is evenly spread. As soon as new knowledge is created it is quickly absorbed and disseminated.]
- Employment: Nine to Five jobs are a recent occurrence, so is the concept of weekend holidays. The growth of corporations as employers is also a recent phenomenon. There are clear and well defined ways of making a living. Earlier people were mostly self employed and people had to search for new ways of making a livelihood. [This means livelihood is assured for a majority of the people today resulting in more people being able to engage in creating knowledge.]
I would love to get your comments. My thoughts on this are very preliminary.
