Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The 20 Biggest Advances in Technology Over the Last 20 Years
Foundation for Economic Education ^ | 01/03/2020 | Alexander Hammond

Posted on 01/03/2020 9:21:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Another decade is over. With the 2020s upon us, now is the perfect time to reflect on the immense technological advancements that humanity has made since the dawn of the new millennium.

This article explores, in no particular order, 20 of the most significant technological advancements we have made in the last 20 years.

  1. Smartphones: Mobile phones existed before the 21st century. However, in the past 20 years, their capabilities have improved enormously. In June 2007, Apple released the iPhone, the first touchscreen smartphone with mass-market appeal. Many other companies took inspiration from the iPhone. As a consequence, smartphones have become an integral part of day-to-day life for billions of people around the world. Today, we take pictures, navigate without maps, order food, play games, message friends, listen to music, etc. all on our smartphones. Oh, and you can also use them to call people.
  2. Flash Drives: First sold by IBM in 2000, the USB flash drive allows you to easily store files, photos or videos with a storage capacity so large that it would be unfathomable just a few decades ago. Today, a 128GB flash drive, available for less than $20 on Amazon, has more than 80,000 times the storage capacity of a 1.44MB floppy disk, which was the most popular type of storage disk in the 1990s.
  3. Skype: Launched in August 2003, Skype transformed the way that people communicate across borders. Before Skype, calling friends or family abroad cost huge amounts of money. Today, speaking to people on the other side of the world, or even video calling with them, is practically free.
  4. Google: Google’s search engine actually premiered in the late 1990s, but the company went public in 2004, leading to its colossal growth. Google revolutionized the way that people search for information online. Every hour there are more than 228 million Google searches. Today Google is part of Alphabet Inc., a company that offers dozens of services such as translations, Gmail, Docs, Chrome web browser, and more.
  5. Google Maps: In February 2005, Google launched its mapping service, which changed the way that many people travel. With the app available on virtually all smartphones, Google Maps has made getting lost virtually impossible. It’s easy to forget that just two decades ago, most travel involved extensive route planning, with paper maps nearly always necessary when venturing to unfamiliar places.
  6. Human Genome Project: In April 2003, scientists successfully sequenced the entire human genome. Through the sequencing of our roughly 23,000 genes, the project shed light on many different scientific fields, including disease treatment, human migration, evolution, and molecular medicine.
  7. YouTube: In May 2005, the first video was uploaded to what today is the world’s most popular video-sharing website. From Harvard University lectures on quantum mechanics and favorite T.V. episodes to “how-to” tutorials and funny cat videos, billions of pieces of content can be streamed on YouTube for free.
  8. Graphene: In 2004, researchers at the University of Manchester became the first scientists to isolate graphene. Graphene is an atom-thin carbon allotrope that can be isolated from graphite, the soft, flaky material used in pencil lead. Although humans have been using graphite since the Neolithic era, isolating graphene was previously impossible. With its unique conductive, transparent, and flexible properties, graphene has enormous potential to create more efficient solar panels, water filtration systems, and even defenses against mosquitos.
  9. Bluetooth: While Bluetooth technology was officially unveiled in 1999, it was only in the early 2000s that manufacturers began to adopt Bluetooth for use in computers and mobile phones. Today, Bluetooth is featured in a wide range of devices and has become an integral part of many people’s day-to-day lives.
  10. Facebook: First developed in 2004, Facebook was not the first social media website. Due to its simplicity to use, however, Facebook quickly overtook existing social networking sites like Friendster and Myspace. With 2.41 billion active users per month (almost a third of the world’s population), Facebook has transformed the way billions of people share news and personal experiences with one another.
  11. Curiosity, the Mars Rover: First launched in November 2011, Curiosity is looking for signs of habitability on Mars. In 2014, the rover uncovered one of the biggest space discoveries of this millennium when it found water under the surface of the red planet. Curiosity’s work could help humans become an interplanetary species in just a few decades’ time.
  12. Electric Cars: Although electric cars are not a 21st-century invention, it wasn’t until the 2000s that these vehicles were built on a large scale. Commercially available electric cars, such as the Tesla Roadster or the Nissan Leaf, can be plugged into any electrical socket to charge. They do not require fossil fuels to run. Although still considered a fad by some, electric cars are becoming ever more popular, with more than 1.5 million units sold in 2018.
  13. Driverless Cars: In August 2012, Google announced that its automated vehicles had completed over 300,000 miles of driving, accident-free. Although Google’s self-driving cars are the most popular at the moment, almost all car manufacturers have created or are planning to develop automated cars. Currently, these cars are in testing stages, but provided that the technology is not hindered by overzealous regulations, automated cars will likely be commercially available in the next few years.
  14. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC): With its first test run in 2013, the LHC became the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It’s also the world’s largest single machine. The LHC allows scientists to run experiments on some of the most complex theories in physics. Its most important finding so far is the Higgs-Boson particle. The discovery of this particle lends strong support to the “standard model of particle physics,” which describes most of the fundamental forces in the universe.
  15. AbioCor Artificial Heart: In 2001, the AbioCor artificial heart, which was created by the Massachusetts-based company AbioMed, became the first artificial heart to successfully replace a human heart in heart transplant procedures. The AbioCor artificial heart powers itself. Unlike previous artificial hearts, it doesn’t need intrusive wires that heighten the likelihood of infection and death.
  16. 3D Printing: Although 3D printers as we know them today began in the 1980s, the development of cheaper manufacturing methods and open-source software contributed to a 3D printing revolution over the last two decades. Today, 3D printers are being used to print spare parts, whole houses, medicines, bionic limbs, and even entire human organs.
  17. Amazon Kindle: In November 2007, Amazon released the Kindle. Since then, a plethora of e-readers has changed the way millions of people read. Thanks to e-readers, people don’t need to carry around heavy stacks of books, and independent authors can get their books to an audience of millions of people without going through a publisher.
  18. Stem Cell Research: Previously the stuff of science fiction, stem cells (i.e., basic cells that can become almost any type of cell in the body) are being used to grow, among other things, kidney, lung, brain, and heart tissue. This technology will likely save millions of lives in the coming decades as it means that patients will no longer have to wait for donor organs or take harsh medicines to treat their ailments.
  19. Multi-Use Rockets: In November and December of 2015, two separate private companies, Blue Origin and SpaceX, successfully landed reusable rockets. This development greatly cheapens the cost of getting to space and brings commercial space travel one step closer to reality.
  20. Gene Editing: In 2012, researchers from Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Broad Institute each independently discovered that a bacterial immune system known as CRISPR could be used as a gene-editing tool to change an organism’s DNA. By cutting out pieces of harmful DNA, gene-editing technology will likely change the future of medicine and could eventually eradicate some major diseases.

However you choose to celebrate this new year, take a moment to think about the immense technological advancements of the last 20 years, and remember that despite what you may read in the newspapers or see on TV, humans continue to reach new heights of prosperity.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: advances; dsj02; technology
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

1 posted on 01/03/2020 9:21:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Worked at Cymer , in San Diego, for 10 years. We developed lasers for the microchip industry that made most of these advances possible. Best job I ever had.


2 posted on 01/03/2020 9:24:25 AM PST by spudville
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

A little over 20 years, but Viagra has transformed nursing homes.


3 posted on 01/03/2020 9:26:15 AM PST by FatherofFive (Islam is EVIL and needs to be eradicated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I might have stuck to Top 20...

15. AbioCor artificial heart

However, Dr Robert Jarvik, inventor of the first artificial heart, points out that the Abiocor heart, because of its size, cannot be used on small men, children, and most women.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1120745/

The second patient, Tom Christerson, who was given less than a 20 percent chance of surviving 30 days at the time of his surgery, lived for 512 days after receiving the AbioCor, dying on February 7, 2003 due to the wearing out of an internal membrane of the AbioCor.[12] An additional 12 patients had the device implanted into 2004, resulting in an average life span of less than five months among all 14 patients. In some cases the device extended survival by several months, allowing the patients to spend valuable time with family and friends. In two cases, the device extended survival by 10 and 17 months respectively, and one patient was discharged from the hospital to go home. For a patient to be eligible for implantation with the AbioCor, the person must have had severe heart failure (with failure of both ventricles) and had to be likely to die within two weeks without transplantation.[1][2]

AbioCor was surgically introduced into 15 total patients, 14 of them during a clinical trial and one after FDA approval. However, due to insufficient evidence of its efficacy, AbioMed abandoned further development of the product.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbioCor


4 posted on 01/03/2020 9:27:45 AM PST by treetopsandroofs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

(Oops, I might have stuck to Top 15)


5 posted on 01/03/2020 9:28:30 AM PST by treetopsandroofs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
What article on new technology would be complete without paying homage to the first iPhone? Of course the first iPhone was a practically useless device that came along a couple years after other more capable devices had been brought to market. I had a 3G smart phone with a touch screen that came out in 2005. The first iPhone was a “2G” device which was about a third as fast as a 56k modem. It was a joke! I remember laughing at my Apple fanboy friend when he tried to show me what it was capable of. It looked neat but it was a joke. But we wouldn't want to challenge the fanboy gospel would we?
6 posted on 01/03/2020 9:34:04 AM PST by fireman15
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Off topic but I need some ‘technical’ help. I don’t remember my Free Republic password and for some reason didn’t write it down the last time.

I need to clean out my cache but don’t want to lose access to FR. Suggestions?

Yes, I could have started an entire thread on this topic but I figure I could get a good answer here on this thread. Thank you in advance.


7 posted on 01/03/2020 9:35:16 AM PST by ladyjane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Skype? Really???

That is ancient technology. Which very few people use anymore these days.

Skype. Right up there with 35mm cameras.


8 posted on 01/03/2020 9:39:17 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (As a matter of fact, I DID only read the excerpt. OK, I intended to. Next time for sure.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Google Maps have made getting lost virtually impossible? Hah! Never underestimate human ingenuity.


9 posted on 01/03/2020 9:39:30 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd

Skype is the worst online calling software on the planet. On a scale of 1 to 10, it is a zero.


10 posted on 01/03/2020 9:41:48 AM PST by WashingtonSource
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

He missed two biggies.

Internet technology. Including streaming TV technology.

Televisions. Yes the old TV set.


11 posted on 01/03/2020 9:42:48 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (As a matter of fact, I DID only read the excerpt. OK, I intended to. Next time for sure.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

What is interesting to note is how few of those were government projects...

Free markets FTW.


12 posted on 01/03/2020 9:44:51 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ladyjane; Jim Robinson; John Robinson

I’m probably wrong, but maybe Jim or John could do a password reset for you.


13 posted on 01/03/2020 9:45:49 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (As a matter of fact, I DID only read the excerpt. OK, I intended to. Next time for sure.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: fireman15

First item on the list is smartphones.


14 posted on 01/03/2020 9:48:59 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (If you want a definition of "bullying" just watch the Democrats in the Senate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: All

Several items on that list are candidates for the gift/curse argument.


15 posted on 01/03/2020 9:49:26 AM PST by gibsonguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Responsibility2nd
Skype? Really??? That is ancient technology. Which very few people use anymore these days.

Skype gave birth to several video communication sites.

I use FaceTime at the grocery store to call my wife and make certain I'm getting the obscure product she asked for. She uses Skype and Facebook Messenger to talk to her family in Russia, saving hundreds on what used to be our long distance phone bills. I use multiple services when I'm on deployment to talk to my family.

Skype and the comparable services that followed it have been incredibly important and are used by many people across the globe.

16 posted on 01/03/2020 9:50:32 AM PST by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: ladyjane
I don’t remember my Free Republic password and for some reason didn’t write it down the last time.

You don't enable your browser to save your passwords?

17 posted on 01/03/2020 9:51:34 AM PST by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
This didn't even make the top 100 ..??? Image result for silly inventions
18 posted on 01/03/2020 9:51:41 AM PST by Leep (Everyday is Trump Day!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ladyjane; Responsibility2nd

Click the “Account” link at the top of any of the main index pages ( https://freerepublic.com/tag/news-forum/index ) and you will see a link to edit your password or email address.


19 posted on 01/03/2020 9:53:02 AM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Much of this happened in sequence or around the same time..made the internet fast and nearly seamless.
Otherwise, back in the mid-90’s before Google greatly improved search i was saying PC’s are a flash in the pan.
To bad Facebook and Google is evil.


20 posted on 01/03/2020 9:55:33 AM PST by Leep (Everyday is Trump Day!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson