Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Coldfusion Presents New Thinking From Einstein To Artificial Intelligence The Science and Technology That Transformed Our World Dagogo Altraide
Coldfusion Presents New Thinking From Einstein To Artificial Intelligence The Science and Technology That Transformed Our World Dagogo Altraide
https://textbookfull.com/product/mammoth-science-the-big-ideas-
that-explain-our-world-1st-edition-david-macaulay/
https://textbookfull.com/product/uncommon-grounds-the-history-of-
coffee-and-how-it-transformed-our-world-pendergrast/
https://textbookfull.com/product/reconstructing-our-orders-
artificial-intelligence-and-human-society-donghan-jin/
https://textbookfull.com/product/artificial-intelligence-and-the-
environmental-crisis-can-technology-really-save-the-world-1st-
edition-keith-ronald-skene-author/
Cunning Machines: Your Pocket Guide to the World of
Artificial Intelligence J■drzej Osi■ski
https://textbookfull.com/product/cunning-machines-your-pocket-
guide-to-the-world-of-artificial-intelligence-jedrzej-osinski/
https://textbookfull.com/product/introduction-to-artificial-
intelligence-undergraduate-topics-in-computer-science-wolfgang-
ertel/
https://textbookfull.com/product/artificial-intelligence-by-
example-develop-machine-intelligence-from-scratch-using-real-
artificial-intelligence-use-cases-denis-rothman/
https://textbookfull.com/product/unbound-how-eight-technologies-
made-us-human-transformed-society-and-brought-our-world-to-the-
brink-first-edition-richard-l-currier/
https://textbookfull.com/product/gravitation-from-newton-to-
einstein-pierre-fleury/
New
Thinking
2
I would like to thank God, my family, and my friends for their support, and tolerating my
occasional complaining, while writing this book. A special thanks to my sister, Piriye, for her
role in helping this book take shape. Last but not least, I want to show gratitude to all of my
YouTube subscribers for making this opportunity possible in the first place.
3
ColdFusion Presents:
New
Thinking
From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology That
Transformed Our World
Dagogo Altraide
Mango Publishing
Coral Gables
4
Copyright 2019 © Dagogo Altraide
Cover Design: Dagogo Altraide
Layout Design: Jermaine Lau
All other images created by Mango Publishing Group and/or provided by Dagogo Altraide
Mango is an active supporter of authors’ rights to free speech and artistic expression in their books. The purpose of
copyright is to encourage authors to produce exceptional works that enrich our culture and our open society. Uploading
or distributing photos, scans or any content from this book without prior permission is theft of the author’s intellectual
property. Please honor the author’s work as you would your own. Thank you in advance for respecting our authors’ rights.
5
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART 1: ORIGINS
CHAPTER 1
The Industrial Revolution
CHAPTER 2
Building a Foundation
CHAPTER 3
A New World 1900–1909
CHAPTER 4
Innovation and the Great Conflict 1910–1919
CHAPTER 5
Gears in Motion 1920–1929
CHAPTER 6
Sound, Vision, and Genius 1930–1939
CHAPTER 7
War Is the Mother of Invention 1940–1949
CHAPTER 8
The Seeds of Today 1950–1959
CHAPTER 9
Peace, Love, and…Computers? 1960–1969
CHAPTER 10
The New Age 1970–1979
CHAPTER 11
Technology Merges into Society 1980–1989
CHAPTER 12
6
Digital Nostalgia 1990–1999
CHAPTER 13
Technology Becomes Personal 2000–2009
CHAPTER 14
Impossible Possibilities The 2010s
CHAPTER 15
Looking to the Future
CONCLUSION
The Power of New Thinking
About the Author
7
Introduction
“The spread of civilization may be likened to a fire; first, a feeble spark, next
a flickering flame, then a mighty blaze, ever increasing in speed and power.”
—Nikola Tesla
The history of mankind is built on new thinking. We use the previous generation of tools as
a foundation to build new tools, which in turn build even more powerful tools—a feedback
loop that keeps on accelerating. Some of these innovations change the world forever: fire,
steam power, the transistor. Some, not so much: the Power Glove, the Clapper, Smell-O-
Vision. What hidden stories lie behind the technology we all use today? New Thinking is the
story of human innovation. Through war and peace, it is humanity at its most inventive, and
sometimes most destructive. In this book, we will take a walk through the history of
technology, the history of us: from the Industrial Revolution to Artificial Intelligence.
Before we start, however, we need to talk about the new thinker of all new thinkers—an
inventor who is so important to the history of technology that he’s nicknamed “The Man
Who Invented the Twentieth Century.” I am speaking, of course, about Nikola Tesla.
You won’t find Tesla’s name in the following chapters of this book. This isn’t because he
isn’t important. It’s because he is too important. If I were to include Tesla, his name would
be on every second page.
Let’s run down a few of the inventions he was either instrumental in realizing, or invented
himself: alternating current, the induction motor, the Tesla coil, wireless lighting, the steam-
powered oscillating generator, the radio, hydroelectric power, x-ray imaging, the remote
control. This doesn’t even begin to list the things he envisioned but couldn’t get around to
or realize because his thinking was too advanced for the materials at hand. There is a reason
Elon Musk named his car company after Tesla.
The legend of Nikola Tesla grows by the year, and the crazy thing is, the legend probably
doesn’t even capture half of the amazing truth. This is a man who once built a small
earthquake machine in New York, and then dared Mark Twain to stand on it. The machine
only caused a small rumble, but it was enough to loosen the bowels of the famous author.
Tesla’s legend includes wireless power, weather control, and a death ray that he reportedly
carried with him in an unmarked bag—a bag that mysteriously went missing after his death.
Many of the wilder legends about Tesla are unsubstantiated, though there are more than
enough verified stories to fill an encyclopedia. Tesla was so ahead of his time that, when he
first displayed his radio remote-control boat at an electricity exhibition in Madison Square
Garden, the technology was so far beyond anything onlookers had seen that some literally
thought Tesla was either a magician or telepathic, while others chalked the display up to a
tiny trained monkey that had been hidden in the remote-control boat.
Alternating current, along with the induction motor, is the reason we can plug things into
the walls in our homes. It was such a huge step that it wasn’t just shown off at the famous
1893 Chicago World’s Fair, it was used to light it.
Without Tesla, we wouldn’t have the electricity in our homes, the motors in our cars, or
the ability to change the channel when American Idol starts. We wouldn’t be able to see
8
broken bones on an x-ray image or listen to the weekly Top 40 on the radio.
Tesla is the poster boy for Arthur C. Clarke’s famous quote: “Any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
But rather than spending all of our time with this amazing Serbian-born inventor, let’s start
at the beginning with chapter 1, and the Industrial Revolution.
9
PART 1
ORIGINS
10
CHAPTER 1
11
This steam pump (now named the Newcomen engine) was put to use in the mines. This in
turn increased the production of coal and tin. Through the power of steam, human effort
was no longer needed to bail out the flood water. As great as this was, there were some
problems with Newcomen’s engine. It was slow and used a lot of coal, making it expensive
to run.
James Watt
With a basis to start from, there was now room for someone to come through and improve
the technology of the Newcomen steam engine. That someone was Scotsman James Watt,
the man who truly got the revolution going.
Born on January 19, 1736, James Watt was the son of a shipyard owner. While in school, he
was taught Latin and Greek, but was thought to be “slow” by his teachers. As it turned out,
he just wasn’t interested in language. When it came to engineering and mathematics,
however, James excelled.
At age nineteen, he went to Glasgow to study the trade of making precisely calibrated
instruments such as scales and parts for telescopes. Watt eventually made instruments for
the University of Glasgow. During his time at the university, Watt was given a model of a
Newcomen engine to repair. Very quickly, he became interested in steam engines and
noticed how inefficient the standard Newcomen engine of the day was. He decided he could
improve it. While taking a walk on a Sunday afternoon in 1763, an idea struck him. Instead
of heating and cooling the same cylinder, why not have a separate chamber that condenses
the steam? This meant that the machine could work in both an upstroke and a downstroke
motion.
12
This idea would end up cutting the fuel needed by 75 percent. After experimenting with a
small model of his new design, Watt was convinced it would work. Soon, a partnership with
an industrialist by the name of Matthew Boulton was formed. This partnership would alter
the world for good.
It has been said that Boulton was a little like Steve Jobs, an enthusiastic, business-minded
individual, while Watt was like a gloomy version of Steve Wozniak—the man behind most of
the technical work. This isn’t far from the truth, although there was much more crossover
in the roles of Watt and Boulton than with Apple’s founders.
Throughout the mid-1770s, James Watt and Matthew Boulton would use their own
company (Boulton & Watt) to distribute the new steam engines throughout England. The
impact was immediate within the mining industry, and also reached the liquor industry in
grinding malt.
To explain the benefits of the machine, Watt had to come up with a way of relaying its
power. He figured that a horse could pull around 82 kg (180 pounds), so, in his description
to customers, Watt would say, for example: my machine has the power of twenty horses—
twenty horsepower. This is in fact where the unit of power came from.
Subsequent improvements in the steam engine soon opened the door to powered factories
and a revolution in the textile industry. For the first time, the mass production of goods was
possible. These conditions allowed for new employment opportunities in city locations. As a
result, job seekers left their farms and headed to the city in search of a new life.
13
One of the first improvements was made by Cornish engineer, Richard Trevithick, who
enabled the use of high-pressure steam. Yielding more power, this development opened the
door to feasible locomotive steam engines. Improved designs and power-to-size ratios
meant that engines became so compact they could be used, not just in factories, but also in
mobile machines.
The year 1804 was monumental in history. That year would see the world population reach
one billion, the isolation of morphine, and Napoleon come to power; but most of all, it was
the first time goods were transported over land without the power of man or animal. This
feat came in the form of a steam locomotive with a speed of 8 km an hour (5 miles per
hour) carrying a load of more than twenty-five tons. Not bad, considering cars were still
almost a century away.
Steam-powered trains and railroads became a major British export and began to have a
small impact on the rest of Europe. Arguably, however, the biggest effect was seen in the
United States. In the early 1800s, many models of locomotives were imported from Great
Britain, but by 1830, the United States was building its own trains. American companies
began forming and a new industry emerged.
14
was now mobile. The California connection allowed perishable food to quickly be
transported across the country in refrigerated railcars, ushering in a new era of prosperity.
We essentially still use steam engines as a way of generating power today. Coal, nuclear, and
some natural-gas power plants all boil water to produce steam. This steam then drives a
turbine that generates electricity. It’s amazing that the consequences of Watt’s idea during a
Sunday stroll still impact us today.
While the steam engine was just starting to move from the factory onto the railroad, there
was another technology whose time had not yet arrived; however, it would soon be just as,
if not more, revolutionary.
This innovation was none other than electricity.
15
CHAPTER 2
Building a Foundation
THE MYSTERY OF ELECTRICITY
From ancient times, electricity was known only as an abstract concept. Imagine you were
living five thousand years ago and received a shock from touching an electric fish. There
would have been nothing like it in your life experience, except perhaps for lightning. The fish
would seem mysterious, perhaps even magical. This enchanting puzzle existed for centuries
and millennia.
The term “electricity” came from William Gilbert in his 1600 publication De Magnete,
considered to be the first real scientific work published in England. The word “electricity”
was derived from the Greek word for amber: ἤλεκτρον (elektron).
16
The time it took to produce a car fell from over twelve hours to ninety-three minutes. To
highlight how much of a revolution this was, consider that in 1914, Ford produced 308,162
cars. This was more than all other manufacturers combined. By 1924, over ten million
Model T’s had been built. The price had now dropped from $850 to $260 USD ($12,100 to
$3,700 USD today) per unit.
Assembly work, though monotonous, was not as bad a deal for the workers as one might
think. The typical workday could be reduced from nine to eight hours due to the efficiency
gains. The workers were paid $5 ($124 today) a day, double the industry standard at the
time. Theoretically, factory workers could afford their very own Model T’s. The workers
must have felt like rock stars as they tore up the street going 45 miles (72 km) per hour).
At this point, Ford had made the automobile available to the common man.
The Model T and its mass-production techniques transformed American culture and
economy. Drive-in restaurants and movies began to appear, and motor hotels (motels)
became a new concept. In fact, people could now drive anywhere (the cars were designed
to handle rough terrain, snow, and even river crossings), and, as a result, businesses started
popping up in rural areas.
Early cars and trucks impacted the steel, rubber, and glass industry, the food industry, and
the entertainment industry.
By the 1950s, the auto industry was already employing nine million Americans. There was
even a job called a “Tooter.” A tooter’s sole purpose was to listen to car horns in the
factory and make sure they were tuned to the frequencies specified by the manufacturer.
Car horns usually had two tones: E-flat and G, for example.
28
Even though crude by today’s standards, the Edison phonograph and the gramophone
brought in a new realm of possibilities in entertainment. The phonograph ushered in the
idea of “private music” for the very first time. What a revolution to listen to music
whenever you liked, without going to a live show. It’s not difficult to see how this was a
great idea for its day.
As the sound quality of records improved, they began to sell well. Along with this came
mass production and effective marketing. Soon record prices dropped from two dollars to
around 35 cents. In 1907, a recording of Enrico Caruso’s cover of “Vesti la Giubba“ became
the first to sell a million copies. It was distributed by Victor Records.
29
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Triodopsis, 340, 441
Triopa, 434
Triopella, 434
Triopha, 434
Tritaxeopus, 385
Triton, 256, 275, 420;
jaws, 212
Tritonia, 433;
protective coloration, 71
Tritonidea, 424
Trivia, 419
Trochidae, egg-capsules, 125
Trochiscus, 408
Trochita, 248, 412
Trochoceras, 395
Trocholites, 395
Trochomorpha, 306, 321, 324, 327, 333, 441
Trochonanina, 331, 440
Trochosphere, 5, 130
Trochotoma, 266, 407
Trochus, 263, 408;
eye, 182;
stomach, 239
Trophon, 423
Tropical beach, Mollusca of a, 3
Tropidophora, 414
Tropites, 397
Troschelia, 424
Truncaria, 423
Truncatella, 260, 414
Tryblidium, 405
Trypanostoma, 340
Trypho of Lampsacus, prayer against snails, 121
Tubed operculates, 157, 266, 300, 307, 309
Tudicla, 424
Tudora, 291, 349, 351, 414
Tugonia, 456
Tulotoma, 340, 416
Turbinella, 100, 262, 264, 424, 424
Turbo, 409;
eye, 182;
osphradium, 195;
operculum, 268
Turbonilla, 250, 332, 422
Turcica, 408
Turricula, 425;
radula, 221
Turrilites, 399, 399
Turritella, 252, 417;
radula, 215, 224
Tyleria, 459
Tylodina, 431
Tylopoma, 416
Tympanotonus, 416
Tyndaria, 447
Typhis, 423
Xenophora, 412;
habits, 64
Xenopoma, 346, 351
Xerophila, 285, 296, 441
Xesta, 310, 319, 321, 440;
mimicry by, 66 f.
Xylophaga, 457
Yetus, 425
Yoldia, 447;
genital orifice, 242
Zagrabica, 297
Zebrina, 285, 296, 442
Zeidora, 406
Zidona, 425
Zittelia, 420
Zones of depth, 361
Zonites, 275, 440;
food, 33;
radula, 232;
distribution, 294, 296, 340
Zospeum, 187, 442
Zygobranchiata, 154, 406
END OF VOL. III.
MACMILLAN & CO.’S
PUBLICATIONS ON
The first two volumes of this series were published in October; the
third will be ready in April, and the fourth in October, 1895.
FOOTNOTES: