The history of technology by Brad Jacobs: From fire and shelter, to the internet and AI.

I wish I was taught this at school...

More than 2 million years ago - Early humans in Africa make the first stone tools from split pebbles

1 million years ago - Humans begin to use fire as a tool

500,000 years ago - Humans build the first shelters

350,000 years ago - Humans begin to hunt with spears

100,000 years ago - Humans begin to trade using beads made of shells

60,000 years ago - Humans begin to use spears for hunting, protection, aggression

1000 BC - Early accountants in Asia create the abacus

635 BC - The Chinese produce the first coins

600 BC - The Romans build the first public sewer system

200 BC - The Chinese invent the compass

AD 725 - Buddhist monk Yi Xing creates the first mechanical clock

900 - The Chinese first use gunpowder in war

1182 - The Chinese invent the magnetic compass

1284 - The Italians invent eyeglasses

1328 - The Europeans invent the sawmill

1440 - Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press

1530 - Europeans invent the spinning wheel

1609 - Galileo Galilei invents the telescope

1662 - Blaise Pascal invents the public bus

1698 - Thomas Savery invents the basic steam engine

1769 - A French military tractor becomes the first self-propelled road vehicle

1793 - Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin

1795 - Nicholas-Jacques Conté invents the modern pencil

1838 - A British steamship makes the first transatlantic crossing

1839 - Charles Goodyear develops a way to make rubber strong, durable, and elastic

1850 - Isaac Singer introduces the sewing machine

1857 - William Kelly invents the blast furnace

1865 - Giovanni Caselli introduces the first commercial facsimile system

1869 - John Wesley Hyatt invents synthetic plastic

1874 - Remington Company introduces the mechanical typewriter

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone

1877 - Thomas Edison invents the phonograph

1880 - Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light bulb

1882 - America opens the first hydroelectric power plant

1883 - England constructs the first electric railway

1885 - Gottlieb Daimler builds the first four-wheeled automobile using an internal combustion gas engine

1886 - Josephine Cochran invents the first practical dishwasher

1892 - Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel engine

1894 - Nikola Tesla invents radio signal coils

1896 - Gottlieb Daimler builds the first truck

1901 - Henry Booth invents the vacuum cleaner; Thomas Edison invents the alkaline storage battery

1902 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover the existence of the elements radium and polonium

1903 - Willis Carrier introduces the first electric air conditioner

1908 - Henry Ford uses the assembly line to introduce the Model T; Thomas Edison develops a moving picture with sound

1910 - A plane transports commercial freight for the first time

1913 - England manufactures the first stainless steel

1914 - Electric traffic lights are invented in the United States

1920 - James Smathers invents the electric typewriter

1921 - Karel Čapek invents the robot; Western Union introduces the telegram

1923 - Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food

1927 - Erik Rotheim invents the aerosol can; Philo Farnsworth invents the all-electric television

1933 - Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson invent polyethylene

1935 - Robert Watson-Watt pioneers the development of radar

1936 - A rail provider transports a truck trailer for the first time

1937 - Frank Whittle invents the jet engine

1938 - Philip Wiles invents the stainless-steel artificial hip

1939 - Sikorsky builds the first viable helicopter; The United States builds the first mass-produced remote-controlled aircraft, or drone

1940 - England uses the first operational computer in WWII

1943 - America begins operating the first nuclear reactor

1945 - Raytheon Corporation introduces the microwave oven

1946 - The first general-purpose, programmable computer (ENIAC) is developed for the U.S. Army

1947 - William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain invent the transistor

1949 - De Havilland Aircraft builds the first commercial jet airliner

1951 - Charles Ginsburg develops the videotape recorder

1952 - America develops the first hydrogen bomb; Swedish scientists Åke Senning and Rune Elmqvist implant the first cardiac pacemaker

1953 - NBC begins broadcasting television programs in color

1955 - IBM introduces the first transistor calculator

1956 - The “Ideal X,” the world’s first commercial container ship, sails; IBM develops the FORTRAN computer programming language

1957 - Russia launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite

1959 - Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce
invent the silicon chip; Xerox introduces the first commercial copier

1962 - NASA launches the first privately built satellite; Nick Holonyak Jr. invents the first visible light LED

1963 - Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the minicomputer; Philips introduces the compact audio cassette

1965 - The first robotic exoskeleton for assisted walking is created; Stephanie Kwolek invents Kevlar

1966 - Marie Van Brittan Brown invents the first video home security system

1968 - Ivan Sutherland implements the first virtual reality system

1969 - The internet is created through the ARPANET network

1971 - Intel introduces the first microprocessor; Texas Instruments introduces the first pocket calculator

1972 - Landstat 1 creates the first comprehensive mapping of Earth

1973 - Xerox develops the first personal computer

1977 - The VHS video recorder is developed

1978 - The first human is born through in vitro fertilization (IVF)

1979 - Nippon launches the first 1G wireless network in Tokyo

1980 - Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer invent the scanning tunneling microscope (STM)

1981 - The mobile phone is invented

1982 - The compact disc player is developed

1983 - Apple introduces the Graphical User Interface (GUI); Bill Gates introduces Microsoft Windows; GPS technology is made available for civilian use; Charles Hull invents stereolithography

1984 - Carnegie Mellon University develops the first truly autonomous vehicles

1991 - Ann Tsukamoto identifies and isolates stem cells

1992 - Apple introduces the first PDA; Vodafone sends the first SMS text message, “Merry Christmas”

1994 - Jeff Bezos founds the first purely online retail company; Dan Kohn completes the world’s first secure credit card transaction over the internet

1995 - Gary Kremen launches Match. com, the first online dating service

1996 - Email communication is widely adopted; Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland clone “Dolly” the sheep

1997 - AOL makes instant messaging available; Videophones are first used in business settings; IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats chess champion Garry Kasparov

1998 - Google is incorporated; MP3 files begin to be transmitted on the internet; Microvision introduces the virtual retina display; IBM introduces the first speech recognition software; The first high-definition television is sold

1999 - The first wearable continuous glucose monitoring system is approved by the FDA; The first human organ, a bladder, is artificially engineered using 3D printing; TiVo introduces time-shifting broadcast recording

2000 - The “ILOVEYOU” virus infects 50 million computers

2001 - Apple launches the iPod; The first artificial heart is implanted in a human; Capsule endoscopy technology is introduced

2002 - The birth control patch is first released in the United States

2003 - The U.S. government establishes the National Cyber Security Division; Skype launches videoconferencing applications

2004 - Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard students launch Facebook

2005 - YouTube launches its video-sharing website; Scientists complete the first comprehensive comparison of the genetic blueprints of humans and chimpanzees

2006 - Amazon Web Services is launched; Twitter is introduced; Nintendo introduces motion sensor–controlled technology; The first commercial drone is permitted by the U.S. FAA; Food is 3D-printed for the first time

2007 - Apple introduces the iPhone; Amazon introduces Kindle

2008 - Blockchain is introduced for bitcoin transactions

2009 - Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna invent CRISPR; Google launches Waymo

2010 - Apple introduces the iPad; The first ever Uber trip is completed; Palmer Luckey completes his first VR headset prototype

2011 - Apple introduces Siri

2012 - The Higgs boson particle is discovered; Australian surgeons implant the world’s first bionic eye

2013 - The Apple App Store exceeds a million apps; The FDA approves the first retinal implant in the United States

2014 - A robotic lander built by the ESA makes the first soft landing on a comet

2015 - NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reaches Pluto; PayPal’s Venmo reports 40 million annual users

2016 - The FDA approves the first artificial pancreas; AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol at Go

2017 - SpaceX reuses a Falcon 9 rocket; Ericsson introduces support for the 5G network; Apple launches facial recognition on the iPhone X

2018 - Instagram reaches 1 billion monthly users

2019 - Astronomers release the first photo of a black hole; IBM unveils the first quantum computing system for commercial use; Israeli researchers print a 3D heart using human tissue

2020 - Zoom is downloaded a record 2.13 million times in a single day

2022 - OpenAI releases ChatGPT; The first full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope are released; A robot performs laparoscopic surgery on a pig without human assistance.

2023 - Google releases Bard. Thought 1 - I wish I was taught this at school

It connects subjects: Physics, maths, chemistry, biology, business and geography through an interconnected timeline -- with practical implications.

What idea changed how you view the world?

Here's mine: High Agency.

The high agency library: (19 best examples I've found in 4 years) 1. High agency in a video: This guy.

Watch how the low agency crowd goes from judgemental to joining in, once everyone deems it acceptable.

16 differences between USA and UK:

(Written by a Brit) 1. Accents

In America, if you drive for 2 hours -- people's accents don't change much.

In Britain, if you drive for 2 hours -- people's accents change a lot.

UK is way smaller than Texas -- but has 40+ accents.

What idea do you think society is wrong about?

Here's mine: Cognitive biases are actually superpowers.

9 examples: My problem with the term "Cognitive Bias":

1. It's pessimistic - It assumes humans are stupid. Actually, we're the only thing in the universe we're aware of with consciousness

2. It's low agency - It assumes cognitive biases use you. Rather than tools to be used.

Let's go...

How to get creative (without doing drugs): At a first principles level:

1. The brain has inputs and outputs

2. Creativity is an output that is both novel and useful

Who is the most high-agency person you've never heard of?

Rudolf Vrba.

He escaped Auschwitz by soaking himself in gasoline -- to give a memo to Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Pope.

Meet the man who saved 200,000 lives from the Nazis... Rudolf Vrba was 18 when he entered Auschwitz

His name was removed and replaced with a number: 44070

"Most people die at 25 and aren't buried until they're 75" - Benjamin Franklin

Why?

4 reasons and solutions: Reason 1 - Milestones

0-25 is a well-designed video game.

You level up each year.

There are regular milestones as you go from infancy to school to entering the workforce.

You constantly feel like you're making progress -- and have reflective milestones.

Controversial opinion: Resting smile face is worth ∼20 IQ points.

4 reasons why: 1. Smiling Is Lindy

The first human language started 70,000 years ago.

The smile started 30 million years ago.

Babies that can't talk understand a smile.

Facial expressions are the first ever human language.

The Midwit Meme: Guide To Life

10 memes more valuable than any life coach: 1. Midwit Guide: Weight Loss

7 Trojan Horses To Avoid:

Trojan Horses are behaviors that appear positive -- but harm you in disguise.

Trojan horses can be worse than obvious harmful behaviors because you're under the illusion it's positive.

It's degenerate behavior but with great branding.

1. Trojan News

The Horse - Keep up to date on the news to feel like an informed citizen.

The Outcome - Spiked cortisol levels. End up less informed by consuming opinion pieces that turn out to be wrong 12 months from now.

2. Trojan Business

The Horse - Keep up to date on the latest business trends.

The Outcome - Shiny object syndrome. Envy of Entrepreneurs presented reality vs hidden reality.

3. Trojan Payrise

The Horse - 50% increase in salary to join competitor.

The Outcome - Traded earning for learning. Loss aversion to go back down the ladder is now greater.

4. Trojan Nutrition

The Horse - Healthy glass of orange juice full of vitamin C.

The Outcome - 50g of pure sugar in your blood stream.

5. Trojan Workouts

The Horse - Lift weight too heavy because YouTube guru says you're lazy.

The Outcome - Incorrect form that causes serious injury and motnhs to recover.

6. Trojan Dating

The Horse - Date the best-looking person purely to show off on your Instagram.

The Outcome - People view your Instagram for 2 seconds of their day. You spend 10 hours per day with someone you have nothing in common with.

7. Trojan Thinking

The Horse - Try to think your way out of overthinking.

The Outcome - You make the problem 10x worse. Trying to think your way out of overthinking is like trying to snort your cocaine addiction away.

The great irony of Trojan Horses: In your desire to move things forward, you actually moved things backward.

You would've been better off doing nothing at all.

Sometimes it's actually better to the degenerate alternative to the trojan horse -- at least you're not under any false assumptions.
Trojan Horse: The News

How to get creative (without taking drugs):

13 techniques I've found useful:

1. Consume Niche Content

Go to YouTube or Twitter.

Step 1 - Scroll through Explore page

Step 2 - Only click on content that has under 5K views

90% is often a waste of time.

But 10% turns into an incredible niche input that nobody else on the internet is tapping into.

That 10% input is like a VC's investment portfolio - it makes up for all the failed investments

2. Balaji's Transformer

If you have a written idea -- try to draw it

If you have a visual idea -- try to write it

If you have a numerical idea -- try to explain it out loud

The process of transforming the idea from one language to another produces a new perspective

3. Wake Up Early -- Or Stay Up Late

Most people hit peak creativity whilst others are asleep.

Why?

The brain is free to stop worrying about other people -- and fills the vacuum with ideas instead.

4. Create An Evil Twin

Imagine there's an evil identical twin of you whose sole job is to out-think you.

What are they thinking?

This thought experiment allows the mind to explore creative ideas -- because you can blame it on the twin.

5. Spin Wheels

Step 1 - Collect the best questions you find
Step 2 - Add them to a spinning wheel app
Step 3 - Spin the wheel before bed
Step 4 - Leave the question with the subconscious overnight
Step 5 - Brainstorm on the question first thing in the morning before any input

6. Escape The News Trap

Most people only consume content made in the last 24 hours.

David Perell calls this the "Never-Ending-Now"

Instead, study the best of history.

Your inputs go from the best content in the last 24h to the best content ever made.

Imagine if you could only consume music that was made in the last 24 hours. This is what most people do with their content habits.

7. Be Like Japan

When I ask people where they want to travel to: Most say Japan

Japan practiced an isolationist policy called Sakoku for 265 years. They cut off the outside world -- resulting in their unique culture

Once per quarter, practice Sakoku for a weekend or a week

Sakoku is intermittent fasting for the mimetic mind

In the interconnected age, your thoughts feel like your own -- but it's often society's voice echoing.

When you spend a week alone with 0 external inputs -- the echoes disappear and you hear your own creative voice

8. Avoid Dramatic People

Human Brain Paradox: Your brain is a supercomputer -- but it can only have 1 thought at a time.

Every thought has an opportunity cost.

Toxic and dramatic people are so dangerous to creativity -- they eat your supercomputers RAM.

9. Never Identify With Ideas

People don't have ideas. Ideas have people.

You are just a vessel for ideas to pass through

2nd album syndrome and writer's block are often caused by the creator building an identity to defend.

10. Create A Mood Log

When you feel creative -- log the causes.

When you feel uncreative -- log the causes.

Once per month, review it and redesign your environment based on this log.

11. The Manhattan Project

Find the smartest people you know.

Get an AirBnB away from all distractions together.

Throw ideas back and forth like a tennis match.

In this scenario, if you have 3 people, 1+1+1 = 111.

You unlock their bottlenecks, which leads to a greater version of them unlocking your bottlenecks.

It's a positive compounding flywheel that is greater than the sum of its components.

Swedish House Mafia did this to create the iconic "One".

It's one of the best videos I've ever seen. (See below) Here's an example of what the Manhattan Project technique looks like.

Swedish House Mafia producing the iconic "One"

Each one unlocks the other person's bottleneck -- resulting in something exponentially greater than each individual alone.

0.1% of ideas this week:

The rabbit holes -- without the distractions.

7 examples: 1. How much does Google pay to be iPhone's search engine:

2014 - $1 billion
2017 - $3 billion
2018 - $9 billion
2021 - $15 billion
2022 - $19 billion

Every year Apple says "Jump"

Google replies with: "How high?"

0.1% of ideas this week

The rabbit holes -- without the distractions.

7 examples: 1. Lagging Measurements

I've been looking for a graph that visualizes lagging measurements.

This one is perfect.

The 0.1% of ideas this week

The rabbit holes -- without the distractions

7 examples: 1. Apple's Road To $3 Trillion

3 thoughts popped into my head:

• Apple was only worth $5.16 billion in 2002

• The growth (and inflation) from 2018-2023 is huge

• It will be fascinating to see AR & VR mapped onto this 5-10 years from now

What ideas sound crazy or weird today -- but will be obvious in 10-20 years?

10 predictions:

1. The Smart Toilet 1. The Smart Toilet

Urine and stool tests provide incredible medical biofeedback.

The smart toilet will give a detailed breakdown of your microbiome, hydration levels and health.

It could also help eradicate Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia.

0.1% of ideas I've found this week

The rabbit holes -- without the distractions

7 examples: 1. Immigrant Mentality

44% of US Unicorn founders were not born in the US

Israel, with a population of just 9.3 million, is the pound-for-pound outlier in 2nd place

The most useful razors and rules I've found:

1. Bragging Razor - If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half what they claim

If someone downplays their success or happiness, assume it’s double what they claim

2. High Agency Razor - If unsure who to work… https://t.co/y0SMRuoZTVtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
On the Everyday Razor, here's the spreadsheet:

1. If you go from doing a task weekly to daily, you achieve 7 years of output in 1 year.

2. If you then apply a 1% compound interest each time, you achieve 54 years of output in 1 year

The most underrated video on the internet:

A man tries to make a chicken sandwich from scratch: It costs $1500 and takes him 6 months.

There's never been a better time to be alive. We are standing on the shoulders of invisible giants every day.

Show this video whenever someone says how terrible modern life is.

What is ignored or neglected by the media -- but will be studied by historians?

Here's the full list of 25 examples: 1. What Happened To Mental Hospitals?

Theory:

1. The USA decided to treat more of the mentally ill at a community level (failed)

2. And had new hope in a wonder drug called Thorazine (didn't work as hoped)

0.1% of ideas this week

The rabbit holes -- without the distractions

7 examples: 1. How many versions of you exist?

The human experience is to view yourself as one centralized static entity.

But if you zoom out, there are thousands of different versions of you decentralized across the video game of life.

The Midwit Meme: Guide To Life

10 memes more valuable than any life coach: 1. Midwit Guide: Weight Loss