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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
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To: SeekAndFind

What, no ShamWow? No Flex Seal?


21 posted on 01/03/2020 9:55:42 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: SeekAndFind

Still number one of all time: The off switch.


22 posted on 01/03/2020 9:58:09 AM PST by coaster123 (XLV-MMXX)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I think the emphasis was more on the way Skype changed international phone calling (and not its current unpopularity).


23 posted on 01/03/2020 9:59:45 AM PST by Cedar
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To: treetopsandroofs

Seems to me the artificial heart would be worth another attempt, tech has come a long way since early 2000... miniaturization etc... However I also think that a different approach to the pumping mechanisms needs to be considered, similar to the miniaturization of the dialysis machines took a complete different approach than previous large scale machines.

I don’t know what that approach may be, but I think the first successful artificial heart will NOT be a direct attempt to duplicate the heart in mechanics.. but to duplicate its function.


24 posted on 01/03/2020 10:01:54 AM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: Jim Robinson

THANK YOU!


25 posted on 01/03/2020 10:14:06 AM PST by ladyjane
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To: SeekAndFind

Sorry, but that’s a pop culture list, not a technology list.


26 posted on 01/03/2020 10:26:55 AM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: CodeToad

Maybe you can give us a few technologies that you believe should be on the list.


27 posted on 01/03/2020 10:28:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: SeekAndFind

I would consider technologies the many things the average person doesn’t understand but is used within their life.

1. The LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.

2. Plastic conductors of electricity.

3. IBM’s work on subatomic quantum microcircuits and the resulting AI.

Just to name a few. There have been thousands of these types of discoveries and inventions, so when I see a list of “Top 10”, I think popculture. Things people understand but are products and not technologies.


28 posted on 01/03/2020 10:40:17 AM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Regarding #3, there were Internet based phone programs, even ones that used 33.6K Modems, before there was Skype. Skype was not a huge breakthrough.


29 posted on 01/03/2020 10:40:33 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: SeekAndFind

#4. Google was even less of an “invention”. Yahoo!, Alta Vista, Lycos, Web Spider and others were around, and the difference is in degree, not kind.


30 posted on 01/03/2020 10:41:45 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Skype. Right up there with 35mm cameras.

Yep, they left out digital photography and software.

31 posted on 01/03/2020 10:44:29 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: SeekAndFind

Agree with some but certainly not all.


32 posted on 01/03/2020 10:46:15 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election)
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To: Dr. Sivana

RE: . Skype was not a huge breakthrough.

Skype is now owned by Microsoft.

Microsoft’s singular “talent” for want of a better word, is to take an innovative idea and make it better and more marketable.

The Windows GUI took its idea from the Apple GUI.

Lotus Notes came first in the email application market, it also includes a calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking, journal, and web browsing. Microsoft then dominated by countering with its Outlook application.

Excel made Lotus 1-2-3 better and thus, it dominated the spreadsheet market.

Microsoft Word took its idea from WordPerfect and dominated the word processing market

Microsoft then BUNDLED Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc. into its Office suite to totally dominate the office market.

Companies like Borland and Symantec came first with Integrated Development Environments (IDE) to help develop computer programs, as well as websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Microsoft then came out with Visual Studio and essentially dominated the IDE market.

Novell first came out with its Netware, a computer network operating which initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol. Microsoft essentially killed this product by coming out with something similar that successfully took market share from NetWare products from the late-1990s.

Today, we are witnessing the battle of Cloud Computing Platforms with Amazon coming out first with their AWS ( Amazon Web Services ). Microsoft came later to challenge that with their Azure platform.

In every single case, we see Microsoft NOT being the first to come out with an innovation, but looking at a product and by sheer marketing power with lots of money, overwhelming the adversary.

The only one product that it could not conquer was the music and video streaming business. Its Zune was a failure and iTunes is still king.


33 posted on 01/03/2020 11:11:37 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: 1Old Pro
Yep, they left out digital photography and software.

This looks at the last 20 years. Digital photography was well established by the late 1990s.

34 posted on 01/03/2020 11:15:04 AM PST by Drew68
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To: Drew68
Digital photography was well established by the late 1990s.

However the cameras were not. In fact the first camera phone was only introduced in 1999. It held 10 pictures, not exactly well advanced. I'd argue that digital photography really blossomed in the last 20 years, not during the 90's.

35 posted on 01/03/2020 11:22:55 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: Responsibility2nd

Yup.

I’d even include cordless tool technology, lithium battery powered xordless tools of all kinds.

More so, the advances in energy based medical treatment equipment, cold lasers, pulsed emf devices, diathermy advances, tens devices, now all easily accessible to the average person.


36 posted on 01/03/2020 11:26:18 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Drew68

Russian “collusion”, eh?


37 posted on 01/03/2020 11:32:23 AM PST by NativeSon ( What Would Virginia Do? #WWVD)
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To: Secret Agent Man
More so, the advances in energy based medical treatment equipment, cold lasers, pulsed emf devices, diathermy advances, tens devices, now all easily accessible to the average person.

Just so. I carry a personal EKG six lead equivalent monitor to record arythmic events, tiny enough to fit my wallet if I choose to do so. Works with my smart phone...capable of sending the graphics to my cardiologist. $150...$85 without the 6L capabilty. Just effen' amazing!

38 posted on 01/03/2020 11:50:02 AM PST by Covenantor (https://www. are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
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To: SeekAndFind

The further advancements of horizontal drilling, preforation of hydrocarbon zones & multiple stage hydraulic fracturing.


39 posted on 01/03/2020 1:50:14 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's fore sure)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bob Hope always liked the button that pushes back, to make you feel wanted.


40 posted on 01/03/2020 2:41:40 PM PST by bruin66 (Time: Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once..)
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