Building on the past: Humanity's tale of advancement

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Over a year ago, the world plunged into a chaotic phase of cluelessness and panic when Covid-19 surfaced in some countries of the world. Many countries took the cues from other countries and implemented national lockdown, the world never saw this coming. Though the World Health Organization had contingency plans that included the use of gadgets and tools to contain scenarios like this, they were to be put in place to forestall health disasters.

However, many countries did not put some of these measures in place. The failure to implement these technological advances caused the world damages when the things they were to curb happened. Late implementations and eventual global lockdown happened but this was when enough damages had been done. However, more damages were averted when reasonable measures were taken. Currently, a number of vaccines have been developed and are helping the world in the fight against the pandemic.

While it's easy to get lost in recent technological strides like vaccine development et al, it's important to also note that the stepping ground for most of these innovations lies in older innovations and inventions. Below are some older innovations for current technologies and many more that would be seen in years to come.

The Global Positioning System

While it is easy for anyone to ask Google for the exact time of arrival (ETA) to their destination, it should be noted that the GPS was not always this way since its initiation in 1973. The GPS technology was invented by the U.S. Department of defense, ever since, it has taken both military and civilian inputs on modifications and this has benefited both circles in areas such as reconnaissance, atmosphere, astronomy, automated vehicle, clock synchronization, robotics, etc. Using satellites, the technology works by pinpointing a location and helping users to navigate. More recently, it has been the foundation of a host of smart city and urban mobility apps.

Smartphones

Androids did not start raining from the skies, they also had early players in the smartphone market like Blackberry. Smartphones have changed how virtually everything in the world is done. This cuts across education, fashion, entertainment, sports, health e.t.c. Most of the things that Smartphones have changed come in the form of software, applications, and hardware that now address everyday challenges that people have.



An example of this can be seen in the digitization of music and movies. Decades before this, disks were the order of the day. These disks were subject to loss, erasure, and theft, but with the advent of smartphones and digitization of things, people can simply have entertainment in the palm of their hands when they are hosted on Saas platforms. Asides from the problems that smartphones solve, they also raised the bar in the ease with which things are to be done.

Electricity

Of everything on this list, Electricity is the oldest and the most important. As Benjamin Franklin and Nikola Tesla have done the job of discovering and harnessing electricity to power basic gadgets, things have only been uphill for electricity. The world's fastest-growing cities are ones that rely heavily on electricity. The emergence of electricity has fueled more curiosity and innovations that revolved around the same. Virtually every new technological innovation is electricity dependent and they all look at unique ways of solving certain problems.



One of the latest innovations that overlap with automobiles is electric cars, these cars will not only reduce the carbon load that automobiles come with, they will also envision a new way of commute. So would any new advancements have been possible without the breakthrough of electricity? Obviously not.

The laser

Discovered in 1960, lasers were so ahead of their time. At inception, scientists were not even certain where exactly they could be applied. Since then, lasers have penetrated into nearly every sector, from medicine to consumer electronics to manufacturing. In fact, now, on an average day, almost every person comes into contact with a laser in some shape or form.

The vehicles; for change

The idiom "a vehicle for change" really comes in handy here. It was not always mobile vehicles for us, we once paraded animals and beasts of burdens as our transport means. Over time, we had to envision a better and less injurious (to the animals) approach to doing things. Once the first car rolled off the assembly lines, humanity has only moved at an amazing pace.



Originally seen as a panacea for all mobility challenges, the car has had to adapt to a global demand to eliminate fossil-fuel use and decrease traffic. Now the next generation: hybrid cars, electric cars, and driverless cars, proving the car will be with us for centuries to come and it will also keep seeing other innovations and advancements.

Final Words

These older innovations and inventions have been modified and built upon to give many other inventions we now see today and they will still inspire much better ways of living. We can only but fasten our seatbelts and wait for the ride into the future. We are humans, we will only keep thinking of newer and better ways of doing things.

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